INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE GIREP EPEC 2015 July 6-10, Wrocław, Poland

THE JUBILEE OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE POLISH ACADEMIC COMMUNITY Page | 1 IN WROCŁAW

Europhysics Conference The Conference of International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP) European Physical Society - Physics Education Division (EPS PED), University of Wrocław (UWr)

Key Competences in Physics Teaching and Learning

Proceedings

Wrocław 2016

Page | 2

Published by

Institute of Experimental Physics

University of Wrocław

Pl. M. Borna 9, 50-204 Wrocław, Poland

ISBN: 978-83-913497-1-7

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE GIREP EPEC 2015 July 6-10, Wrocław, Poland

Page | 3 THE JUBILEE OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE POLISH ACADEMIC COMMUNITY IN WROCŁAW

Europhysics Conference The Conference of International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP) European Physical Society - Physics Education Division (EPS PED), University of Wrocław (UWr)

Key Competences in Physics Teaching and Learning

Proceedings

Editors

Ewa Dębowska, Tomasz Greczyło

Wrocław 2016

Committees

Honorary patronage Polish Physical Society, Warsaw, Poland Prof. dr. hab. Marek Bojarski, Rector of University of Wrocław, Poland Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of Lower Silesia Voivodeship, Poland Page | 4 Scientific Advisory Committee Mojca Čepič, EPS-PED Committee, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Costas Constantinou, EPS-PED Committee, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Ewa Dębowska, Chair of the Organizing Committee, University of Wroclaw, Poland Leoš Dvořák, GIREP and ICPE Committee member, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Ton Ellermejer, MPTL Committee member, CMA , Amsterdam, The Netherlands Francisco Esquembre, MPTL Committee member, University of Murcia, Spain Hendrik Ferdinande, EPS-PED Committee member, retired at University of Gent, Belgium Raimund Girwidz, MPTL President, Universiy of Ludwigsburg, Germany Zofia Gołąb-Mayer, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland Claudia Haagen- Schuetzenhoefer, GIREP Vicepresident, University of Graz, Austria Zdeňka Koupilová, EPS-PED Committee member, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Robert Lambourne, ICPE Committee member, The Open University, United Kingdom Ian Lawrence, GIREP past-Vicepresident, Institute of Physics, United Kingdom Marisa Michelini, GIREP President, University of Udine, Italy Cesar Eduardo Mora Ley, LAPEN President, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico Andreas Mueller, University of Geneva, Switzerland Hodeo Nitta, ICPE President, Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan Wim Peeters, GIREP Vice-president, DKO (vzw) and PONTon vzw, Belgium Gorazd Planinšič, EPS-PED past Chair, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Julias Salinas, IACPE and CIAREF President, Argentina David Sands, EPS-PED Chair, University of Hull, United Kingdom Dagmara Sokołowska, GIREP General Secretary, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland Fatih Taşar, iSER President, Gazi University, Turkey Urbaan Titulaer, EPS-PED Committee member, retired at University of Linz, Austria Laurence Viennot, EPS-PED Committee member, retired at University Denis Diderot Paris 7, France Nicola Vittorio, EPS-PED Committee member, University of Rome, Italy Stamatis Vokos, APS T-TEP Chair, University of Seattle, USA Els de Wolf, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Dean Zollmann, AAPT representative, Kansas State University, USA

Local Organizing Committee Małgorzata Bacia, Director of Lower Silesian Centre for Teacher Training, Wrocław, Poland Ewa Dębowska, Chair of the Organizing Committee, University of Wrocław, Poland Tomasz Greczyło, Chair of the Local Organizing Committee, University of Wrocław, Poland Bernard Jancewicz, Chair of Wrocław Division of Polish Physical Society Jerzy Jarosz, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland Elżbieta Kawecka, Computer Assisted Education and Information Technology Centre, Warsaw, Poland Wojciech Małecki, Director of the Regional Examination Board in Wroclaw, Poland Piotr Skurski, University of Lodz, Poland Dagmara Sokołowska, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland Bartosz Strzelczyk, University of Wrocław, Poland

Contents Editors’ Preface ...... 8 Part I ...... 9 Towards Key Competences ...... Page | 5 Learning Physics Using Modern Efficient Methods ...... 10 Lorena Kelo ...... You Haven’t Seen Radioactivity Yet? ...... 17 Vladimír Vícha, Jan Koupil, Jitka Svobodová ...... A Teaching Proposal: Mechanical Analog of an Over-Damped Josephson Junction ...... 25 Roberto De Luca, Immacolata D’Acunto, Roberto Capone ...... Teachers´ Competencies in the Use of Digital Technologies to Support Inquiry in Classroom ...... 30 Zuzana Ješková, Trinh-Ba Tran, Marián Kireš, Ton Ellermeijer ...... Physical - Mathematical Modelling in Physics Teaching ...... 38 Gesche Pospiech, Marie-Annette Geyer ...... Assessment of STEM-design Challenges: Review and Design ...... 45 Leen Goovaerts, Mieke De Cock, Wim Dehaene...... Enquiry for Physics Teachers Following the TEMI Methodology ...... 52 Sara Barbieri, Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti ...... Professionalization through Practical Training. The Application of Pedagogical Content Knowledge within the Physics Teaching-Learning-Lab ...... 58 Susan Fried, Thomas Trefzger ...... Analysis of Problem Solving Processes in Physics Based on Eye-Movement Data ...... 64 Eizo Ohno, Atsushi Shimojo, Michiru Iwata ...... Using a Cognitive Hierarchy to Evaluate Physics Problems and to Reform Physics Curriculum . 71 Raluca Teodorescu , Gerald Feldman ...... Physics Teaching and Learning Reform in Armenian Schools: An Impact Study ...... 79 Julietta Mirzoyan ...... Seemingly Unique Devices – How to Use “Nonsenses” in Physics Teaching ...... 86 Vera Koudelkova ...... Improving of Students’ DIY Skills by an Example of Key Competences Development at Science Centres in Ukraine ...... 90 Nataliya Kazachkova , Iryna Salnyk , Pavlo Mykytenko ...... How Worksheets Based on Data from Astronomical Catalogues Influence Key Competences ...... 98 Ota Kéhar ...... Teacher Participants in the European Project TEMI Practice the Enquiry Methodology in Their Classroom ...... 102 Sara Barbieri, Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti ...... Summary and Typology of Astronomy Popularization in the Czech Republic ...... 109 Radek Kříček ......

Part II ...... 116 Educational Development and Research ...... The Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions after Training about Ionic and Electron Conduction in Simple Electric Circuit: An Exploratory Study ...... 117 Abdeljalil Métioui, Louis Trudel ...... Page | 6 Assessing the Professional Vision of Preservice Teachers in the Teaching-Learning-Lab Seminar ...... 123 Florian Treisch, Susan Fried, Thomas Trefzger ...... Teachers` Inquiry and Assessment Skills Developed within In-Service Teacher Training Course 130 Marián Kireš, Zuzana Ješková ...... The Position of Experiments in Grammar School Students’ Semantic Space ...... 138 Petr Kácovský ...... Teaching Physics to Non Physicist: Physics for Agricultural, Biotech and Environmental Sciences ...... 142 Marisa Michelini, Alberto Stefanel ...... Implementation of Discussion Method to Favour Physics Problem Solving among High School Students ...... 150 Louis Trudel , Abdeljalil Métioui ...... Theoretically and Empirically Based Evaluation of Laboratory Courses – PraQ Questionnaire .... 156 Daniel Rehfeldt , Volkhard Nordmeier ...... Galilean Relativity Conceptual Understanding versus Subjective Interpretation in Kinematics’ Problems: Cartesian Graphs and Questions ...... 163 Marina Castells ...... Testing the Effectiveness of Drama-Oriented Teaching Methods in a Physics Classroom ...... 173 Arne Traun , Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer ...... Part III ...... 180 Teaching-Learning Practices and Classroom Ideas ...... Teaching Energy in the Light of the History and Epistemology of the Concept ...... 181 Manuel Bächtold, Valérie Munier, Muriel Guedj, Alain Lerouge, André Ranquet ...... Enquiring the Higgs Mechanism: A Path for Teachers ...... 188 Sara Barbieri, Marco Giliberti ...... Helping Students Explore Concepts Relating to the Electric Field at Upper Level Secondary Science Education ...... 195 Richard Moynihan, Paul van Kampen, Odilla Finlayson, Eilish McLoughlin...... Integration of some general topics into the introductory physics course for non-physicists – a good practice? ...... 202 Tomaž Kranjc, Nada Razpet ...... Space Science in Thermodynamics ...... 207 Annamária Komáromi ...... General Relativity for Secondary School Students ...... 212 Matěj Ryston ......

Bottle-and-Water-Jet Demonstration of Free-Fall Weightlessness: Do High School Students Know it and what are Their Explanations? ...... 218 Jasmina Baluković, Josip Sliško ...... Problems With Physics-Related Contexts in Mathematics Textbooks for Mexican Secondary School: Some Alarming Examples of Artificial Problem Contextualizations ...... 225 Page | 7 Josip Sliško, Adrián Corona Cruz, Honorina Ruiz Estrada, Rosario Pastrana-Sánchez ...... A Sequence to Teach Quantum Mechanics in High School ...... 234 Sergej Faletič ...... Terrain Experiments With Datalogger in Physics Teaching in Higher Secondary Education ...... 242 Peter Demkanin, Jozef Trenčan ...... The Effects of Different Phases of a Predict-Observe-Explain Activity on Students’ Learning about Buoyancy ...... 250 Jelena Radovanović, Josip Sliško, Ivana Stepanović Ilić ...... An Inquiry-Based Approach to the Learning of Dynamic Equilibrium by Means of the Argentine Tango ...... 256 Nicola Pizzolato, Dominique Persano Adorno...... Irregular Chaos in a Bowl ...... 262 Péter Nagy, Péter Tasnádi ...... From Galileo’s Clepsydra to Webcamera: Methods of Tracing of Motion in Teaching Physics ... 270 Zsanett Finta ...... Strategies of Students to Solve Physics Problems with Unreasonable Results ...... 275 Alejandro González y Hernández, Josip Sliško ...... Examples of Best Practice for Cross-Age Peer Tutoring in Physics ...... 283 Marianne Korner, Martin Hopf ...... Collection of Solved Problems in Physicc: Online Learning Source Encourages Students' Active Learning ...... 288 Zdeňka Koupilová, Dana Mandíková, Marie Snětinová, Krzysztof Rochowicz, Grzegorz Karwasz ...... How to Increase Teachers’ Self-Confidence: An Example Concerning Semiconductors...... 292 Leoš Dvořák ...... Comparing Traditional Pedagogical Approches in Science to Inquiry Based Ones: A Case Study with Pre-Service Primary School Teachers ...... 298 Giuliana Croce, Onofrio R. Battaglia, Claudio Fazio ...... Teaching Biophysics at the Faculty of Rehabilitation, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw ...... 304 Michał Wychowański, Janusz Jaszczuk, Barbara Łysoń, Andrzej Wit ...... Authors index ...... 310

Editors’ Preface

The volume presents the Proceedings of the GIREP EPEC 2015 Wrocław International Conference consisting of the papers submitted by the participants of the event.

Page | 8 We have tried to do our best to group authors’ proposals thematically following both,

domains:

I. Researching formation of Key Competences in physics teaching and learning – new research approaches, new methods, innovative learning strategies, new models; II. Key Competences changing pedagogy – formative assessment, teacher role, student role, KC oriented assessment, shared pedagogy, KC oriented pedagogy; III. Developing of Key Competences – examples of good practices;

and groups:

A. Research (physics education research, empirical as well as theoretical levels); B. Research and development (including classroom ideas, practical issues, development etc. being more substantial than research); C. Classroom ideas, teaching and learning practice (no or minimal research part).

As a result of the grouping process three chapters were created:  Towards Key Competences,  Educational Development and Research,  Teaching-Learning Practices and Classroom Ideas.

The Organizing Committee received a large number of proposals and selection involved very careful decisions. Due to diversity of proposals and richness of the subjects suggested by the authors it appeared to be not an easy task and resulted in preparation of two publications. The one entitled “Key Competences in Physics Teaching and Learning” and containing selected contributions was published by Springer, and the second one, Proceedings of the Conference, you are reading now. We hope that the authors, the participants of the event and the readers will be satisfied by the organization and content of each volume.

The conference language – English – is rich, complex and dynamic. Considering that for most people English is not their mother tongue, it is little wonder that the structures and nuances vary significantly across nations. The Proceedings are the output of the international conference; one of their strengths is the ability to be truly representative and inclusive. That is why we prefer the essence of the matter on its style and content and the way it is presented. As a result one can find in the volume phrases or sentences that might not fit with some rules of English grammar, for what we do apologize, but we are proud that during the review process no work was rejected because of deficiencies in its use of language.

Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers. The organizers are grateful to the authors for their enthusiasm and to all the reviewers for their painstaking work and the time they devoted to the evaluation process.

Ewa Dębowska and Tomasz Greczyło

Editors

Page | 9

Part I

Towards Key Competences

Learning Physics Using Modern Efficient Methods

Lorena Kelo Faculty of Natural and Human Science. University of Korce, Albania

Abstract Page | 10 After a research on teaching Physics in the world and the achievements of the last decades in this field, this article treats an approach based on the experiences of the Department of Physics and Information of the University of Korce. As part of this Faculty I felt it necessary to review the classical methods of teaching physics in our faculty, where the teacher’s role is mainly descriptive, dominant, and not collaborative. We tried to apply the interactive method of teaching physics where the teacher’s role is mainly consultative and/or advisory. Comparison of the results of the two methods indicate the primacy of interactive method. Nowadays, the Theory of Cognitive Processes, in progress, and the Teaching of Physics, are based on well- defined scientific regulations and laws. The reality presents the need for studies, reconsidering the methods of teaching, through tracing and applying new models, aiming the final goal, the Expertise. Besides, other methods, the methods of interactive work in group improve the efficiency in teaching much more than the methods of explanation, narration, school lecture, instruction, etc., already known as parts of classical methods. So, the main instruction of contemporary didactics is focused on the solution of problems in Physics. Complex problems, term papers and/or tests, serve as yhe means for the estimation of conceptual learning, so that the students’ concepts become practical and useful. Scientifically, the methods of solving complex problems are based on well-known experimented strategies. After the theoretical treatment at the end of this article, you will see the surprising results we obtained, after applying the methods of interactive teaching.

Keywords Cognition, collaborative work, monitoring of knowledge, group learning, complex problems, strategy/solution scheme.

Five principles that should be applied while teaching Physics to the students

With the increase of understanding how the students should study, the teacher has a greater possibility to improve his/her teaching process. Continuous research has shown that Physics has become a discipline that can be taught by using consolidated scientific methods. (Edward F. Redish (2003)) . After a massiveness of didactic research, a set of principles, which the teacher should consider as s/he teaches Physics, has become possible. Here they are: First principle: Teach the students to build conceptual knowledge: This principle suggests that the methods of teaching should give the students the ability to structure new and old knowledge around the main concepts. Second principle: Teach the students to use their previous knowledge. This principle suggests that students should be taught how to use their previous knowledge while acquiring new knowledge. Fourth principle: Teaching should be fit for each student bearing in mind differences among them. Teaching methods should be suitable with the abilities of students with regards to their previous knowledge. Fifth principle: Teaching by doing. Teachers of Physics should engage students in a variety of practices to be used in different situations. (Brown J.S, Collins, A. and Duguid, P (1990)).

Expert of Physics versus Student of Physics

The hierarchic classification of the objectives to be reached by the teacher, so that s/he enables the students to study Physics properly, is given by Bloom’s Taxonomy. In 2001 Marzano improved the Taxonomy by bringing the student from the era of knowledge to that of concepts. In the Revised Taxonomy, the gerunds are substitutes for names of Bloom’s Taxonomy with regards to the successive phases in students’ upbringing; on top of it stands the phase of “creation”. This means that the Revised Taxonomy involves the principle of “Teaching by Doing”; so the final result in contemporary education brings creative abilities. (Morzano, R.J.&Kendall, J.S.(2007)). Figure 1 shows the pyramid of classification of objectives after Bloom (on the left) and after Morzano (on the right). To reach the proper objectives, the teacher indispensably needs to apply contemporary methods. Why it is such indispensable?

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Figure 1. a) Bloom’s Original Taxonomy b) Revised Taxonomy

Contemporary methods of Teaching Physics are interactive and cooperative, whereas classical ones refer to the student as an individual. Indeed these methods differ from each other qualitatively. They are symbolized explicitly by the two figures below (Figure 2). (Smith, K.A.(2010))

(a) (b) Figure 2. Classic teaching (a) versus Interactive teaching (b)

Under the conditions of classical teaching, let’s consider what the students do and what they do not.  They focus on defining the answer, but do not analyse the situation in terms of concepts.  They build an abstract image about the problem, mainly based on superficial data of the situation, but do not interpret mathematical formalisms.  They use a limited way of concepts, but do not try to find alternative solutions.  They define the way to solving a problem, mainly involving equations, but do not formulate schemes and/or strategies before solving it.  They try to solve the problem using the Physics they already know, but do not compare the problem with similar situations, reflecting personally while solving it. Thus, the main difference between the expert of Physics and the student of Physics lies both in the “way of operating” and in the “structure of knowledge”. It is more important to gain useful knowledge than focus on the amount of knowledge. (Zajchowsk, R. &Martin, J. (1993)) The scholars have shown several special aspects as regards the difference between the expert of Physics and the student of Physics. (M. Dede, F. Vila (1991)). See the table below:

Table 1. Special aspects that shows differences between the expert of Physics and the student of Physics

Steps Student of Physics Expert of Physics Reasons from.... Laws Models Acts with..... Symbols Concrete Situations Solves Defined Problems Real and complex Problems Generates Physical concepts Structured, negotiable and visionary knowledge Knowledge Type..... Discrete Complicated Structure.... Chronological Hierarchic Presentation.... Few, few ideas Lots, lots of ideas Memory..... Short-term Long-term

One of the main objectives why applying contemporary methods is to create experts of Physics not merely students of Physics. Thus, the tasks and estimations (homework, tests and exams) should be keen to encourage creativity to the students of Physics. (Morzano, R.J.&Kendall, J.S.(2007)).

Work in group and the solution of complex problems Page | 12 There are seven basic principles that serve for the organization of interactive and/or cooperative work in group. They are fairly efficient for the education of students (Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F.Gamson (1987)), aiming the preparation of students as experts of Physics:  Encourage the students to contact each other, including the students of other fields of study.  Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students and teachers.  Use teaching techniques actively.  Stimulate quick reaction.  Give students enough time to do their homework and/or turn the papers in time.  Discuss requirements in a clear communication.  Pay special attention to talented students and the ways you teach them. The students are organized in informal groups (short-term, while in classroom), formal groups (long-term, having defined assignments) as well as study groups (Smith K.A, S. F. Schmoberg (1986)). Let us consider how both informal and formal groups are organized. Work in groups includes a long list of aspects which shall be considered below from organization to estimation of efficiency. To solve problems in Physics, we use sets of laws and regulations. So we determine the strategy for a logical solution. This strategy is associated with a tactic, which consequently leads to a practical scheme for solution (M. Dede, F.Vila, (1989)). The duty of the teacher is to fully inform the students about the scheme and ask them to apply it while exercising. The scheme for solution is given in details below:  Introduction of problem - Cognition of problem. - Designation of the field/s of Physics where the problem is mixed in. - Physical description of phenomena. - What is known, what is required. - Illustration in diagrams and figures. - Highlight the explicit and/or implicit conditions/ hypothesis.  Solving the problem First phase: physical aspect; - Requirements. - Suppositions, referred to explicit and implicit conditions. - Parameters/variables already known. - Equation, which obviously contains the required parameter. - Successive equations, with intermediate unknown data shown in previous equations (we stop writing them in case there are no more unknown intermediate data). - Verification of the total number of written equations, which should be n+1, where the n is the number of intermediate variables. Second phase: Mathematical aspect; - Perform mathematical actions, which lead to a solution with symbols. - Verification of results with the evidence of units (an indispensable condition).  Comment of theoretical result; - Discussions for a new and deep physical interpretation. - Discussions of special matters.  Comment of quantitative results after the numeric replacement of variables; - Solution with symbols is a substitute for Numeric data. - Discussion of numeric value. Let us consider complex problems, for they are the main element of conceptual learning (Styer, D. (2002)). They include a variety of issues, interlinked with each other, not only in one branch of Physics but also in several branches en bloc.

Organization and estimation of the efficiency of working in groups. Results

To be efficient in solving problems of Physics, the working groups should follow a scientific procedure: that is, a model procedure organized within the groups (Schwaz, Roger. (1994)). There are many versions for such a procedure, however, in essence all versions are organized in accordance with a unique scheme explained below:  Clear definition of the problem. A good definition of the problem in Physics clarifies the actual Page | 13 situation and sets the goal to be reached; in other words it facilitates solution.  Identification and definition of main links. Links to solving the problem should be organized according to a scheme of “fish type-skeleton/rib”. Each rib is a possible link to solving the problem. Ribs rest on a main line that ensembles them all. This process leads to the final solution.  Generation of alternative solutions. After identifying and defining the main links, the group gives spontaneous ideas for an alternative solution, knowing that they shall not be estimated in doing so. By generating alternative solutions, we make possible the integration of better ideas (Tagliere, Daniel. (1993)). Let us focus on practical aspects of teaching in groups, realized with the students of the first course of the branch of Information Technology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Humanities of the University of Korce. The students were divided in two groups, A and B. In Group A, we applied the classical method of teaching – the teacher’s role was mainly descriptive; whereas, in Group B, we applied the method of interactive and cooperative teaching – the teacher’s role was consultative and/or advising. During the first semester Group A wrote two intermediate tests, and the students were estimated in points (below, you will see their results compared with those of Group B.) With regards to the procedure we applied in Group B, we are giving the details below:

- Before an exercise class, the teacher spends 5 to 7 minutes, posing a problematic question to the students (usually one that needs multiple answers). With this question, the teacher encourages the students towards a conceptual education. The question is mainly based on parts of a lecture explained beforehand. - The students have the possibility to contribute individually, giving their own answers, while the teacher checks them, and orients students towards the correct answer with the help of additional ancillary questions. - Then the students discuss the question with their ‘neighbors’ in classroom, while the teacher still checks their answers. - The question gets a final answer, after the students discuss and clarify the question. (Beatty, Ian D. & Gerace, William J. altr. (2006)) - Only then, the teacher continues with the solution of problems, strictly following the detailed scheme shown in paragraph 3. The teacher requires that the students also follow that scheme rigorously, while solving problems themselves. Then the students are instantly divided into informal groups and are encouraged to solve a given problem. During the solution, the teacher keeps notes estimating the group as a whole as well as each of the members individually. At the end of the semester, the estimation for each of the students is converted into points (10 points maximum) Another aspect of working in group. The students are organized in formal groups and they are given a defined task. The task includes a theoretical theme of the course of Physics, which they study, complete, and explain, as if they were the teacher. They are estimated with points, for every aspect of their performance (10 points maximum). The formal groups are also given a complex problem. They should solve the problem following the scheme that the teacher has applied while in the session of solving problems (M. Dede, F. Vila (1991)). After solving the problem, members of each group are estimated with points (10 points maximum). At the end of the semester the students take the final examination. The amount of points obtained during the semester is added to the points obtained in the final examination. These points are then converted into the final grade for the semester. The abovementioned results are summarized in the table below:

Table 2. Interim results for the students of Group B, and their final results.

High Theme Complex Activation Total Final school in problems while in points of exam Student average group in group class, interim (max Grade* grade points points homework results 70 (max (max 10 in points (max 30 points) Page | 14 10 points) (max 10 points) points) points) Student 1 8.8 10 7 10 27 50 8 Student 2 5.6 3 5 4 12 19 4 Student 3 9.2 9 6 10 25 41 7 Student 4 7.17 3 4 6 13 31 5 Student 5 6.7 7 4 3 14 28 5 Student 6 5.32 5 4 3 12 15 4 Student 7 9.37 8 4 7 19 54 8 Student 8 7.47 8 8 4 20 32 6 Student 9 5.65 2 2 4 8 20 4 Stud. 10 6.6 5 5 4 14 28 5 Stud. 11 9.57 10 6 10 26 47 8 Stud. 12 8.29 5 5 10 20 32 6 Stud.13 6.98 4 5 4 23 31 6 Stud. 14 7.05 4 6 5 15 46 7 Stud.15 7.25 0 0 3 3 15 4 Stud. 16 6.72 5 3 5 13 29 5 Stud. 17 5.6 2 0 1 3 18 4 Stud. 18 7.32 8 4 4 16 37 6 Stud. 19 5.72 5 5 6 16 26 5 Stud. 20 6.95 6 5 4 15 28 5

We have coloured table 2 to distinguish formal groups from Points (Final exam + Grade each other. * Based on the regulations of the University of interim results) Korce, the students can obtain a maximum of 30 points 0 - 39 Non-passing grade 4 during the semseter (these are called interim result points) 40 - 50 5 Conversion of these points into grades is shown. 51 - 60... 6... Below are the results for the Group A: 91 - 100 10

Table 3. Interim results for the students of Group A, and their final results.

High school First Partial Second Activation Total points Final average Test Partial Test while in class, of interim Exam Student grade In points In points homework in results (max 70 Grade (max 10 (max 10 points (max 10 (max 30 points) points) points) points) points) Student 1 5.9 2 3 3 8 15 4 Student 2 7.64 4 6 9 19 24 5 Student 3 5.7 3 3 5 11 21 4 Student 4 8.35 6 5 9 20 43 7 Student 5 7.84 5 5 6 16 37 6 Student 6 6.43 4 4 5 13 20 4 Student 7 7.89 4 5 5 14 29 5 Student 8 9.32 8 8 9 25 42 7 Student 9 6.7 5 3 4 12 31 5 Stud. 10 8.57 7 6 9 22 34 6 Stud. 11 6.1 3 4 3 10 17 4 Stud. 12 7.72 6 5 7 18 25 5 Stud. 13 5.9 1 0 2 3 10 4 Stud. 14 9.4 8 9 7 24 51 8 Stud. 15 7.73 7 7 6 20 33 6 Stud. 16 6.64 6 5 5 16 30 5 Stud. 17 7.39 5 7 6 18 35 6 Stud. 18 5.1 4 2 2 8 16 4 Stud. 19 7.8 2 3 5 10 21 4 Stud. 20 6.34 1 3 2 6 15 4

If we carefully examine the results of all the students, we realize that the results of Group B are much higher than those of Group A. The passing rate of students in Group B is 15% higher than that of the students from the Group A. Furthermore, the average grade of the students from the Group B is higher than that of the students from the Group A. With reference to such results, we conclude that the interactive method is more efficient than the classical method. The results analysed in this article are modest but exciting for a faculty like ours. I'm determined to continue applying the methods proposed in this article, and enrich the list of positive results, as a proof to change our classical methods of teaching physics. Applying this method, the stronger students Page | 15 developed their special abilities to a higher level. It also helps weaker students to deepen their concepts in Physics. It develops a great communication among teachers and students, treating the latter as active partners.

Recommendation

Perspectives are changing drastically. The teaching process should be supported by powerful scientific methods which are proven to be successful. Interactive work in groups is the most efficient model in Physics. Based on good results achieved and discussed in this article, the departments in our faculties should be encouraged to use the interactive method in Teaching Physics, because teaching is not only a lecturer property but it's a collaboration work between students and lecturers, and students with each other. Solving problems is the main goal of conceptual teaching. The solution of problems is facilitated through the use of scientific strategies/schemes. Analysing of basic principles that guarantee success and quality in teaching, getting to know what guarantees such principles dealt with in general terms, gave us the chance to present several thoughts on the Methodology of Physics. Choosing this theme as a suggested class model aimed the objective that the knowledge on Physics such as recognition, understanding, application, analysis, generalization in studying occurrences, connection of amounts, discovery of laws, conditions in application, essential principles, etc., has to ensure an active cooperation between the lecturer and the student to follow every step through which scientific knowledge is conveyed in realizing the objectives of scientific research: To discover new facts. To verify and prove important facts. To analyse an occurrence or process in which cause-result relation is identified.

References journal papers Beatty, Ian D. & Gerace, William J. altr. (2006): Designing effective questions for classroom response system teaching. American Journal of Physics, 74(1), p. 31-39 Brown J.S, Collins, A. and Duguid, P. (1990): Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), p. 32-41 Styer, D. (2002): Solving Problems in Physics, Oberlin College, Ph.Dept http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/SolvingProblems.html Zajchowsk, R.&Martin, J.(1993): Differences in the problem solving of stronger and weaker novices in physics: Knowledge, strategies, or knowledge structure? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30(5), 459-470. 9th Common Conference of the Cypros Physics Association and Greek Physics Association.

books Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F.Gamson (1987) Morzano, R.J.&Kendall, J.S.(2007). "The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives", 2nd Ed. CA: Corwin Press Schwaz, Roger. (1994). "The Skilled Facilitator. Practical Wisdom for Developing Effective Groups". Jossey-Bass Publishers, p.314 Smith K.A "Cooperative learning groups" in S. F. Schmoberg (ed.) Strategies for Active Teaching and Learning in University Classrooms. Minneapolis: Office of Educational Development Programs, University of Minnesota, 1986.

paper in conference proceedings M. Dede, F. Vila (1991): On the conception and logical scheme of the complex physics problem’s solution Proceedings of 1st General Conference of BPU, Thessaloniki, Greece, Vol.1, p. 26-29

papers in books Edward F. Redish (2003). "Teaching Physics with Physic suite", John Wiley & Sons, Vol.1, p.216. Smith, K.A.(2010) "From small groups to learning communities", New Direction for teaching and Learning, 123, p. 11-22 Tagliere, Daniel. (1993). "How to Meet, Think, and Work to Consensus", Pfeiffer & Company p.142

Affiliation and address information Lorena Kelo Faculty of Natural and Humans Science Departament of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics University of Korce Shëtitore "Rilindasit", Korce Albania Page | 16 e-mail: [email protected]

You Haven’t Seen Radioactivity Yet?

Vladimír Vícha, Jan Koupil, Jitka Svobodová Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics (IEAP), Czech Technical University in Prague, Horská 3a/22, CZ 12800 Prague 2, Czech Republic

Page | 17 Abstract Radioactivity and particle physics are parts of physics that are very abstract for pupils, partly because teachers usually cannot perform any experiment from these fields. Because of this, radioactivity is somewhat covered in a cloak of mystery and fear. In our workshop we tried to introduce a new educational device – the particle camera MX-10 – that enables us to see radioactivity and enter the world of elementary particles and relativistic energies. Workshop participants had an opportunity to experience visualization of radioactivity and to measure properties of radiation of a few safe radioactive sources (uranium glass, welding electrode with thorium, potassium sulfate, americium) and of the natural radiation background.

Keywords MX-10, IEAP, radiation, radionuclides, uranium, thorium, potassium, americium, muon.

The particle detection principle of a MX-10 camera

The technology we are using is based on a Medipix family chip. The story of the Medipix chip goes back to 1990s when it was developed by the Medipix collaboration under the supervision of CERN. Since then, the detectors have been tested in many applications and fields, such as radiation monitoring in CERN and in space, in material analysis or medical imaging. The MX-10 camera (fig. 1) is manufactured by a Czech company Jablotron in cooperation with the IEAP and it is a device designed especially for educational purposes.

Silicon sensor

USB cable

Figure 1. Particle camera MX-10

The heart of the camera is a Timepix silicon pixel detector. The chip can detect impacting ionizing particles and measure their deposited energies. The chip is 300 µm thick, 14 by 14 mm wide, and is split into 256 by 256 pixels that operate in a way similar to a digital camera. In such arrangement the device visualizes ionizing particle tracks similarly to a cloud chamber or a photographic emulsion but with the recording and analysis capabilities of a computer. A schematic picture of a Timepix detector can be found in fig. 2. The control software (Pixelman) for the Medipix or later Timepix detectors was developed and licensed by the IEAP in Prague, a simplified version called Simple Preview has been developed for educational purposes.

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Figure 2. A schematic picture of a Timepix detector (MX-10). Figure published in [1].

Visualization of radioactivity and energies of primary radionuclides

The first task is to try detection of primary radionuclides and at the same time to familiarize with the basic controls and possibilities of the Simple Preview software that controls the MX-10 detector, processes and visualizes measured data into particle tracks, ranks them and determines absorbed energies. The nuclei of the primary radionuclides as well as stable isotopes were created by thermonuclear synthesis in interior parts of stars or by nucleogenesis during explosions of supernovas. The nuclei that had a short half-life (compared to the age of Earth), decayed and they no longer occur in the nature. We can come across only those ones that have half-life at least ten to the power of eight years (108 years). The most important primary radionuclides are potassium 40Ca, thorium 232Th, uranium 235U and uranium 238U. At the beginning we are going to study uranium glass radiation. Uranium glass is commonly used in crafting decorative things such as beads or vases and it is a traditional Czech product. Tracks of particles emitted from uranium glass can be differentiated into three categories corresponding to the alpha, beta and gamma radioactivity. Take a bead from uranium glass (fig. 3 left), bring it close to the detector and record one minute of ionizing radiation tracks. We should receive an image similar to fig. 3 right.

Figure 3. Uranium glass (left) and visualization of its radiation (right). Exposure time was 60 s. The snapshot contains 3 alpha particle tracks, 146 beta tracks and 34 gamma tracks.

The snapshot depicts uranium glass radioactivity. We can see that it contains the three basic types of tracks. The software has classified the particles and counted them. Using the magnifier tool we can magnify selected tracks

(fig, 4 and fig. 5) to study their characteristic shapes and determine energy they have deposited inside the sensor. Alpha tracks have a typical shape of a wide round blob and a typical energy is of the order of thousands keV. Beta particle tracks are long and curvy – their shape is often worm-like. Their energies are of the order of tens or hundreds of keV (fig. 4). Gamma photon tracks are usually one pixel events with absorbed energy typically of the order of tens keV. (fig. 5).

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Figure 4. Left: an alpha particle track. Energy deposited inside the detector was 2 409 keV. Right: beta particle track, 661 keV of deposited energy.

Figure 5. Gamma photon track – single pixel sized. Energy absorbed by the detector was 14 keV.

After the first measurement we made one-minute-long measurement using other primary radionuclides: welding rod WTh-40 that contains thorium and potassium sulfate (common weed fertilizer), see fig. 6. Now we can compare all three sources. The radiation of the electrode and uranium glass is similar – containing all three kind of radioactivity, however the welding rod emits alpha particles more often. The potassium emits only beta and gamma radioactivity.

Figure 6. Visualization of radioactivity: thorium 232Th (left) and potassium 40K (right). Exposure was 60 s for both cases.

There are a few observable differences between the radiation sources. Both uranium and thorium emit all kinds of radioactivity because they form decay series and the radioactivity we observe is emitted not only from primary nuclides but also from all daughter products of decay. In case of thorium we observe a greater amount of alpha radioactivity and further study shows that alpha particle energies can exceed 8 MeV and it is not so in the case of uranium. Potassium does not form decay series because it decays either by beta decay to calcium 40 40 0 Page | 20 19 K20 Ca1e  ν , or by a K-capture to argon 40 0 40 * 19 K1e 18Ar  ν. The MX-10 camera detects only beta and gamma; it is not capable of detecting neutrinos. We have seen that unstable nuclei can be detected using their radioactivity visualization and particle energies analysis.

The world of relativistic speeds

Einstein’s special relativity is a part of high school curriculum in Czech Republic. This theory predicts effects that are observable only at speeds comparable to the speed of light in vacuum. On the other hand, the speeds of objects around us are negligibly small when compared to the value c = 3·108 m·s-1 and therefore special relativity effects cannot be observed and for students the world of relativistic speeds is very strange. Let’s try to answer the question “Is there anything around us that is almost as fast as light?” We will study the energies of alpha and beta particles that have hit the detector and from these energies we will calculate speeds of these particles. The measuring program determines absorbed energy for each particle and this energy corresponds to kinetic energy Ek (displayed in units keV). From Einstein’s formula E = E0 + Ek we can derive for particle velocity: 1 v  c 1 .  Ek  1   E0  Let us choose a few alpha particle tracks (source: uranium glass, thorium electrode) that have deposited high energies in the detector, and calculate alpha particle speeds.

Table 1. Speeds of alpha particles emitted by uranium and thorium

Ek [keV] 6 824 7 626 8 733 5 990 v [m·s-1] 1.81·107 1.91·107 2,05·107 1.70·107 v/c ·100 % 6.0 6.4 6.8 5.7

Second row of table 1 shows that the speeds of alpha particles are very high, of the magnitude of order 107 m·s-1. Third row contains comparison of alpha particle speed and light speed – we can see that the ratio magnitudes are 1 of the order of units of percent which means that the non-relativistic formula for kinetic energy E  mv 2 k 2 should be accurate enough. Now let’s examine some of the higher energies deposited in the detector by beta particles (electrons) emitted by uranium glass, electrode or weed fertilizer. These values are summarized in table 2.

Table 2. Speeds of beta particles

Ek [keV] 384 455 537 625 v [m·s-1] 2.46·108 2.55·108 2.62·108 2.68·108 v/c ·100 % 82.1 84.9 87.3 89.3

The electron speeds (second row of tab. 2) are of the same order of magnitude as the speed of light, their relative speeds exceed 80 % of the speed of light, and moreover we have to take into account that the particles might not have deposited all of their energy in the chip. Their real speeds might have been therefore even higher. It is quite interesting for students that usual potassium flower fertilizer is a source of electrons with relativistic speeds. We can only wonder if people in the gardening centers know that.

Radioactive background on the surface of the Earth

Primary radionuclides are natural radionuclides that form the natural radiation background on Earth (together with cosmic radiation). Using a MX-10 it is possible to monitor the radiation background. Table 3 shows data from 120 seconds long measurements during the workshop. All detectors were oriented vertically. We can see that gamma and beta radioactivity are dominant, alpha is rare. Frame analysis also shows Page | 21 that there are very rare events categorized as “other”. The alpha radioactivity most probably originates from radon or its daughter products, the “other” are usually tracks of muons that are a part of cosmic radiation. Muons are highly penetrating particles, their tracks are not being curved by the material of the silicon chip and therefore they are observed as straight lines (fig. 7). Capturing a muon track is quite rare event since the particle had to be moving within the plane of the detector chip (300 µm thick) or with a very small declination from this plane. A result of such low probability is that a track at least 20 pixels long is captured approximately once in ten minutes.

Figure 7. A long track of a muon (220 pixels)

Table 3. Counts of ionizing particles measured by six independent MX-10 detectors while measuring the radiation background. Time of exposure: 120 s, vertical sensor orientation.

1 2 3 4 5 6 Sum Alpha 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Beta 14 14 13 12 18 13 84 Gamma 16 15 15 15 17 16 94 Other 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Visualization of americium radiation and its energies

For demonstrating the basic properties of radioactive radiation it is better to have a safe source that has activity higher than the natural sources described above. Such source might be the ŠZZ ALPHA (241Am, 9.5 kBq, fig. 8 left) that comes as a part of the MX-10 edukit. Americium is a typical source of alpha particles that are also accompanied by gamma photons. The activity of the source is chosen to be categorized as a safe source of radiation (according to Czech national standards), however it is significantly higher than previous sources. During 2 second exposure we have detected over 100 alpha particles (see fig. 8 right).

Figure 8. ŠZZ ALPHA radiation source (241Am, 9.5 kBq) (left). Tracks of alpha and gamma radiation (right). Exposure time: 2 seconds.

For further exploration of americium radiation we have used analytical tools of the Simple Preview program: the energy histogram (fig. 9) and the particle count histogram (fig. 10). The actual value of energy for alpha particles emitted by americium 241 is 5.5 MeV, however our graph has a peak for energy around 3.5 MeV. This is due to energy loss that occurs partly even inside the americium itself, partly inside the thin golden film that covers the americium, and finally during the propagation through air.

Fig. 10 shows that the count of particles in one frame is a random quantity with mean value of 20 particles. The Page | 22 data corresponds very well to Poisson distribution.

Figure 9. Alpha particles energies (americium in the ŠZZ ALPHA).

Figure 10. Histogram of counts of alpha particles detected in one frame

Figure 11. Histogram of alpha radiation energies for source close to the detector (right peak, mean energy 3.5 MeV) and displaced by 1 cm (left peak, mean energy 2.1 MeV).

Absorption of alpha radiation

The energies of alpha particles are significantly higher than energies of beta or gamma, on the other hand alpha radiation has highest ionizing effects and therefore it is the least penetrating. In the air alpha particles with energies around 3.5 MeV can reach 2.1 cm. The next experiment shows how to determine using a histogram how much energy an alpha particle approximately loses while penetrating 1 cm of air. Fig. 11 shows two energy Page | 23 peaks, the first was measured with source placed as close to the detector, as possible, while the second one with the source moved by 1 cm. The difference of mean energy of the peaks is approximately 1.4 MeV and this difference equals to energy that has been lost during the particles’ path through air.

The following two experiments study absorption of alpha radiation in paper and in water. Fig. 12 left shows tracks detected after we placed a sheet of common paper between the chip and the radiation source (only top-left corner of the chip is covered). We can see that while alpha radiation does not penetrate the paper, gamma radiation does. During the next experiment we placed a thin food wrapping stretch film on the detector and placed a small droplet on it (fig. 12 right). We can see a “shade” of the droplet and we can conclude that while alpha particles can penetrate the film, it cannot penetrate water (even a very thin layer). Gamma photons are penetrating both the film and water.

Figure 12. Alpha radiation absorption in paper (left) and in water droplet (right) placed on stretch film. Gamma photons penetrate paper, film and water.

Absorption of gamma radiation

Gamma photons are being differently absorbed by different materials based on atomic number of elements that form these materials. This property of gamma radiation has quickly started being used in medicine and engineering for the so called X-ray imaging.

Let’s show how to make a radiographic image: we placed different metal objects into plastic boxes and workshop participants had a task to discover what is inside without opening/destroying the boxes. They received a “black box”, placed it between the americium source and detector and created an image with long exposure time (several minutes’ exposure – fig. 13 right).

Figure 13. Placement of a black box onto the detector (left). A radiography of steel pad. The image also contains two long muon tracks.

Conclusion

In our workshop we tried to present a set of experiments suitable for direct use in teaching basic properties of radioactivity and ionizing radiation. Because all of the used sources of radiation are safe (in both medical and legal terms), these experiments might be used not only as demonstrations but as student labs as well. A more extensive textbook containing ca. 50 experiments with the MX-10 camera should be available very soon. Page | 24 References [1] Platkevič, M. (2014). Signal Processing and Data Read-Out from Position Sensitive Pixel Detectors, dissertation thesis, Czech Technical University in Prague. [2] Medipix collaboration, the Medipix homepage [Online]. Available at: http://medipix.web.cern.ch/medipix/.

Affiliation and address information Vladimír Vícha, Jan Koupil, Jitka Svobodová Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics Czech Technical University in Prague Horská 3a/22 128 00 Praha 2 Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

A Teaching Proposal: Mechanical Analog of an Over-Damped Josephson Junction

Roberto De Luca, Immacolata D’Acunto, Roberto Capone Department of Physics “E. R. Caianiello”, University of Salerno, Italy

Page | 25 Abstract An over-damped pendulum can be adopted as a mechanical analog of an over-damped Josephson Junction. The basic equations leading to the driving torque versus time average of the angular frequency are studied. The mechanical analog can be used to provide additional insight into the current-voltage characteristics of over- damped Josephson Junctions.

Keywords Teaching , Josephson Junction, Analogy, Physics Education,

A Teaching Proposal

Why should we talk about Josephson Junctions (JJs) to high school students? In Italy the topics of modern Physics are often presented, according to a historical approach, during the last year of scientific High School. An experimental approach is rarely applied. “In order to enter into the quantum mechanics world it is necessary to make a big conceptual leap which can be, for example, the abandonment of the classical idea of "trajectory", to which we are so well accustomed because of our everyday experience” (Rinaudo 2003). We also have to withdraw from which student have become familiar during high school studies. The JJs allow us to refer to many practical applications such as electronic devices, SQUIDs, quantum computers or magnetoencephalography (Barone 1982). The Physics behind these applications can intrigue and motivate students to study more meaningfully. The complexity of the phenomena related to JJs can be overcome through a simple analogy: an overdamped pendulum. Under over-damped conditions, this analogy is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Analogy between Josephson Junction and an over-damped pendulum.

Josephson Junction Pendulum

Phase difference Angular position θ

Bias current Applied torque

Capacitance Moment of inertia

Conductance Viscosity coefficient η

Josephson current sin Horizontal displacement = sin

Voltage Angular velocity

This activity can be considered to be part of the cultural background of skills-based education. In fact, it aims to promote "a coordinated system of knowledge and skills mobilized by the student in connection with a purpose (a task, a set of tasks or an action) that interest him and promote good internal motivational and affective arrangements” (Pellerey 2003).

Learning by Analogy in Physics Education

In Physics, learning by analogy is a powerful tool to study different systems subject to identical laws from a mathematical point of view. Feynman summarizes this principle with the phrase "the same equations have the same solutions". It means that if two physical quantities, also belonging to completely different physical systems, obey the same equations, they have the same behaviour over time. In this way, these two physical quantities systems will have the same dynamical properties.

The analogy becomes an important tool because it allows to apply language, formalisms and results developed in a given field of physics (e.g., classical dynamics) to an even completely different other one (e.g., quantum mechanics). Obviously, the analogy becomes relevant in Physics teaching. A schematic representation of cognitive processes allows students to acquire additional concepts in a different learning context. Therefore, analogy allows students to understand abstract concepts related to a certain cognitive context through situated learning in another context. The analogy thus becomes the mediator of different semiotic cognitive registers. Page | 26 The Josephson Junction (JJ)

In 1973 B. D. Josephson received the Nobel Prize for having predicted the d. c. and a. c. Josephson effects in a superconducting device consisting of two weakly coupled superconductors. This device was named “Josephson Junction” (JJ).

Figure 1. Resistively Shunted Josephson Junction Figure 2. Pendulum. model

The dynamics of the superconducting phase difference φ across the Junction is described by the Josephson equations (Josephson, 1963):

= sin (1a) 2 = (1b) ħ

where is the current flowing through the Junction ( being the maximum value that can flow in the zero- voltage state), ħ = ℎ/2, ℎ being Planck’s constant, and is the voltage across the two superconductors. In order to describe the dynamics of the superconducting phase difference φ in an over-damped JJ, a Resistively Shunted Junction model can be adopted (Barone et al., 1982). In this model a purely superconducting element carrying a current expressed in terms of φ as in Eq. 1a is placed in parallel with a resistor of resistance , as shown in Fig. 1. By injecting a current in the system and by invoking charge conservation, we may write:

+ sin = (2)

where is the voltage across the JJ. By expressing in terms of φ as in equation (1b) and by introducing the dimensionless quantities = / and = , where Φ0 is the elementary magnetic flux quantum, we may rewrite equation (2) as follows:

+ sin = (3)

The above equation represents also the dynamics of an over-damped simple pendulum (Ohta H. 1976).

An Over-Damped Pendulum

Let us consider the pendulum with pivot point in and consisting of a massless rod of length and a spherical

body of radius and mass , as shown in Fig. 2. This sphere is moving in a fluid of density F, so that it is subjected to the buoyancy force. Let us define ∗ = 1 − as the effective mass of the sphere, when buoyancy is taken into account. Page | 27 () ∗ Let us set () = , where is the applied torque and = is a dimensionless time variable. ∗() () It can be shown (De Luca 2015) that, for: 7 ∗ + 2 + 5 (4) ≪ 1 (6)( + )

we may write the following dynamical equation for the over-damped pendulum:

+ sin = () (5)

Constant Driving Moment

Let us take a constant forcing term of the over-damped pendulum: in this case we can obtain analytic solutions for the differential equation (5). For < 1, we obtain two constant solutions, one stable, one unstable, as it can be argued by means of the phase-plane analysis shown in Fig. 3.

Figure 3. Phase-plane analysis for the over-damped pendulum. The constant forcing term is = 0.0 (bottom curve), = 0.75 (middle curve), and = 1.50 (top curve).

The stable solution is given by:

∗ = sin (6) while the unstable solution is at = − ∗. The stability regime changes as the angle crosses the value = , as it can be noticed by analysing the sign of the derivative about these fixed points. For = 1 we have an half-stable solution: the pendulum may swing around whenever an arbitrary small positive perturbation arises; for > 1 the function = () is monotonically increasing, given that the curves in Fig. 3 lie above the -axis and the derivative is always positive. In this “running state” we solve the ordinary differential Eq. 5 by the method of separation of variables (Barone et al., 1982), by writing: () = (7) − sin

where = (0).

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Figure 4. Normalized time dependence of the angular frequency (full line) of an over-damped pendulum subject to a constant forcing equal to = 1.50.

By finding the function = () we may calculate the time average 〈 〉 of the angular frequency as a function of the constant forcing term . This analysis is important, given that the versus 〈 〉 curves correspond to the normalized current versus average voltage 〈 〉 characteristics of an over-damped Josephson Junction. We notice that the function is periodic with period equal to = . On the other hand, the time-averaged value of can be calculated as follows:

1 () − (0) 2 〈 〉 = = = (8) so that it is proven that the average value of the angular frequency curves is − 1. From Eq. 8 we can then argue that:

= 1 + 〈 〉 (9)

For < 1, on the other hand, the pendulum is in static equilibrium, so that 〈 〉 = 0.

Figure 5. Normalized forcing term versus the time average of the angular frequency (full line) of an over- damped pendulum.

The same happens in a Josephson Junction: when the value of the normalized bias current < 1 the junction is said to be in the superconducting or zero-voltage state. Therefore, no current flows in the resistive branch of the RSJ model in Fig. 1, so that the curve climbs vertically from 0 to 1 just as shown in Fig. 5. However, when > 1, the resistive branch is activated and a finite voltage appears across the junction, in the way described in Fig. 5. We also notice that the versus 〈 〉 curve presents the oblique asymptote = 〈 〉. In fact, for large

enough values of , this driving moment becomes predominant with respect to the nonlinear sine term in Eq. 5, thus justifying the observed asymptotic.

Conclusions

The present work is dedicated to those teachers who are engaged with the task of introducing Modern Physics topics in high school syllabi. Page | 29 The properties of an over-damped Josephson Junction have been analysed by means of a mechanical analog: an over-damped pendulum. As the physical properties of a pendulum are more familiar to students, the Josephson Junction dynamics in the over-damped limit may be derived by analogy. In this respect, the analogy between the pendulum and the JJ is used as a mediator of different cognitive registers in Physics teaching.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank O. Faella and A. Saggese for useful discussions.

References Barone A., Paternò G. (1982). Physics and applications of the Josephson Effect Wiley, New York De Luca R., Giordano A. and I. D’Acunto (2015). Mechanical analog of an over-damped Josephson junction. European Journal of Physics 36.5: 55042-55051. Josephson B. D. (1963). Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling Phys. Lett. 1, 251 Feynman R. P., Leighton R. B. and Sands M. (1965). The Feynman’s lectures on Physics, Vol. III Addison Wesley Ohta H. (1976), A Self-Consistent Model of the Josephson Junction. In: H. D. Hahlbonm, H. Lubbig, Editors, Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices and their Applications . De Gruiter, Inc., Berlin, 35-49. Pellerey M. (2003). Metacognizione e processi affettivi, motivazionali e volitivi. Albanese O. Percorsi metacognitivi. Franco Angeli Milano, Italia. Rinaudo G. (2003) La fisica per maestri Libreria Cortina Torino Italia

Affiliation and address information Roberto De Luca Department of Physics University of Salerno Giovanni Paolo II 84084 Fisciano (SA) Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Immacolata D’Acunto Department of Physics University of Salerno Giovanni Paolo II 84084 Fisciano (SA) Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Roberto Capone Department of Physics University of Salerno Giovanni Paolo II 84084 Fisciano (SA) Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Teachers´ Competencies in the Use of Digital Technologies to Support Inquiry in Classroom

Zuzana Ješková1, Trinh-Ba Tran2, Marián Kireš1, Ton Ellermeijer3 1University of Pavol Jozef Safarik in Kosice, Slovakia 2VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Page | 30 3CMA Foundation Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Abstract The main goal of the FP7 SAILS project is to support teachers in adopting an inquiry approach in teaching science at secondary level across Europe. In addition to this, the SAILS project develops also appropriate strategies and framework for assessment of IBSE skills and competences. This is achieved by utilizing existing resources and models for teacher education in IBSE. The teachers´ professional development is provided by engaging several cohorts of teachers to participate in workshops in IBSE with increasing focus on assessment practices. Moreover, it has been well-known for a long time that when implementing IBSE, digital technologies can play an important role to effectively enhance inquiry in the classroom. Digital technologies or ICT tools (e.g, datalogging, videomeasurement and modelling tools) give students opportunity to explore and investigate physical phenomena and collect, process and evaluate data in a very powerful way. However, many teachers still have not been able to use the ICT tools in the classroom due to lack of training. As a result, selected teacher education workshops have been devoted to IBSE with focus on the effective use of ICT tools to enhance inquiry. The in-service teacher education programme (TEP) on ICT in IBSE has been developed in a blended learning environment to combine workshops with the distant online part supported by Moodle platform. As an ICT tools platform there has been the Dutch Coach learning environment used. Besides training the practical activities on the use of selected ICT tools in an inquiry way teachers followed with the home assignments on certain ICT tool. Completing the course present and distant part teachers developed their own lesson plan on an inquiry lesson implementing ICT tools as a final home assignment. They were also expected to trial it in the classroom. The results of their final assignment including the developed lesson plan as well as the experience from the classroom practice teachers presented at the final course session. The ICT in IBSE course was successfully implemented in two rounds with in-service Slovak lower and upper secondary teachers. The evaluation of the first round teachers´ learning outcomes resulted in revisions of the course scenario that were implemented in the second round. The teachers´ learning outcomes were given into comparison with the course scenario. The contribution analyses in detail experience from the course and the level of competencies that teachers gained in the use of digital technologies to support inquiry.

Keywords In-service teacher education, ICT, competencies, Coach, datalogging, videomeasurement, modelling.

Introduction

In the last years we have been facing a strong movement in science education that emphasize the importance of inquiry approach in science classes. There are many EU funded projects that reflect this effort. The ESTABLISH (http://www.establish-fp7.eu/) and SAILS (http://www.sails-project.eu/portal) projects are aimed at wide dissemination of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) across Europe. This is done by creating teaching materials also complemented with assessment tools as well as by training teachers towards deeper understanding of IBSE and developing skills to implement this way of teaching and learning. In addition, it has been well- known for a long time that when implementing IBSE, digital technologies can play an important role to effectively enhance inquiry in the classroom. Digital technologies or ICT tools (e.g, datalogging, videomeasurement and modelling tools) give students opportunity to explore and investigate physical phenomena and collect, process and evaluate data in a very powerful way. However, many teachers still have not been able to use the ICT tools in the classroom due to lack of training. As a result, selected teacher education workshops have been devoted to IBSE with focus on the effective use of ICT tools to enhance inquiry. The designed teacher training on ICT in IBSE was implemented and evaluated from the point of view of teachers´ achievements compared to the course goals. Different assessment tools were used to evaluate the teachers´ competences developed during the course.

Methods

The ICT in IBSE course design In order to develop teachers´ competences in the use of digital technologies to support inquiry there was a teacher training course on ICT in IBSE designed. The course has been developed in cooperation of CMA Foundation in Amsterdam and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and was devoted to the following four Page | 31 ICT tools that we consider the most important regarding IBSE:  Datalogging tool enables to gather and record real-time data by sensors.  Videomeasurement tool enables to collect position and time data from a video of a moving object.  Modelling tool provides teachers and students with a powerful set of possibilities to create and analyse models of phenomena.  Data processing and analysis tool helps to analyse or process the data, which is collected by datalogging, videomeasurement, or modelling. The ICT in IBSE course is organized in several modules that cover each of the mentioned tool together with the module that strongly focuses on the implementation of ICT into IBSE (table 1). Within the teacher training course, a variety of support materials have been developed and organized in the Moodle environment (http://ibse.establish-fp7.eu/) to support blended learning environment (live sessions combined with home assignments). There has been a COACH learning environment used since this environment integrates all the mentioned ICT tools in one common platform. The teaching and learning materials for each of the ICT tool involve:  Introductory presentations and presentations on educational benefits of a selected ICT tool.  Coach basic activities are ready-to-use activities, which introduce simple manipulations and elementary concepts related to a certain tool. Practicing these basic activities does not require any previous experience with the Coach platform.  Coach tutorial activities help to improve skills and conceptual knowledge corresponding to a certain tool through step-by-step written instructions or video tutorials.  Coach subject activities are ready-to-use activities focused on a particular topic or concept, which serve as a source of ideas or as a resource for further development. The current course scenario has been developed on the basis of the first run of the course (more details can be found in Ješková et al., 2015), whereas the course extent and scenario have been revised and slightly modified. The main modifications are as follows:  time for introductory presentation and demonstration was reduced, shifted to distant learning,  more time was devoted to carry out activities in groups or individually,  more time was devoted to modelling live session,  more time was left for home assignment,  it was highly recommended for teachers to trial the lesson plan in the classroom. Currently, the course is organized in 40 hours with 25 hours of present learning and 15 hours of distant learning part with the following content (table 1).

Table 1. ICT in IBSE teacher training course scenario.

Number of hours Module Present Distant 5 hours Datalogging 5 hours Intro about course goals and content, Intro about the role of ICT in IBSE, Introductory ppt on datalogging, Practising basic activities, Practising tutorial activities 9 hours Datalogging/ Data processing and analysis 5 hours 4 hours Discussion on Moodle platform, problems and solutions, Presentation on Implementation of datalogging activities in the class at different levels of inquiry, Practising subject oriented activities, Introductory ppt presentation on Data processing and analysis. Home assignment I.: development of the activity on datalogging, studying the presentation on videomeasurement 9 hours Videomeasurement 5 hours 4 hours Discussion on datalogging home assignment, Introductory ppt on videomeasurement, Practising basic, tutorial and subject-oriented activities with emphasize on IBSE principles. Home assignment II: development of the activity on videomeasurement, studying the presentation on modelling

9 hours Modelling 5 hours 4 hours Discussion on videomeasurement home assignment, Introductory ppt on modelling, Practising basic, tutorial and subject-oriented activities with emphasize on IBSE principles Home assignment III: Development of the activity on modelling 8 hours Page | 32 Implementation of ICT in IBSE 5 hours 3 hours Discussion on modelling home assignment, Presentation on implementation of ICT tools in the classroom, Practising subject-oriented activities at different levels of inquiry, Discussion on implementation of ICT tools in the classroom - sharing experience Home assignment IV: Development of the lesson plan on inquiry lesson enhanced by ICT tools with a possible tryout in the class Final presentation of the lesson plan on inquiry lesson enhanced by ICT tools in front of the three- member board

Teacher training course in ICT in IBSE and its implementation The ICT in IBSE course has been implemented in Slovakia with two batches of teachers in the following way (table 2):  1st round: 30 hours (20 hours life sessions/ 10 hours distant learning) from March to June 2013 with 39 participants. More details about the course goals and results can be found in (Ješková et al., 2015).  2nd round: 40 hours (25 hours life sessions/ 15 hours distant learning) from October 2014 to February 2015) with 29 participants. The second round was based on the evaluation of the first round. Teachers followed the suggested scenario (table 1) in two groups:  Group 1 involved teachers with some experience in ICT tools (physics teachers only).  Group 2 involved teachers with little or no experience (rest of physics teachers and chemistry, biology and geography teachers). The participants´ teaching experience in both rounds was very similar. It varied from 1 to 32 years (average 19 years) in the first round and from 4 to 33 years (average 19.5 years) in the second round. Table 2. Implementation of the course in two rounds.

Number Teachers

Duration Present part Distant part of Non- Physics teachers physics 1 12 weeks 20hours/4sessions 10hours/4assignments 39 32 7 2 15 weeks 25hours/5sessions 15hours/4assignments 29 25 4

Data collection instruments The main goals of the teacher training involve:  Mastering technical skills in datalogging, videomeasurement and modelling.  Being able to design a lesson based on IBSE strategies enhanced by ICT tool. We designed and used a variety of research methods to collect data on teachers' learning process and outcomes as follows:  Q1 Pre-course questionnaire: an online questionnaire collected information about the teachers' background related to the course contents. It was administered before the first session of the course.  Q2 Post-course questionnaire after the course: an online questionnaire was administered a few days after the presentation of the final home assignment. It delivered information about teachers' knowledge, experience, and attitude towards the course contents as well as about their evaluation of the course.  Q3 Post-course questionnaire: an online questionnaire was sent out relatively long time after the course. It collected the evidence whether the teachers used such knowledge and skills (gained through the course) after the course in their lessons as well as information about teachers’ evaluation of the effects of the course on their teaching.  O1 Observation of life sessions: we observed the teachers' learning process to compare it to the intended program and to find out the teachers' learning problems.  D1 Activities submitted as home assignments.  D2 - Lesson plans: Through lesson plans that the teachers submitted for the final assignment with presentation, we assessed their skills in designing an inquiry lesson with ICT integration.  D3 Presentation in front of the board.

 C1 – Computer test: In the second round, the teachers took a computer test after the course finished. The test included the question about their awareness of particular features of the ICT tools and the trouble shooting tasks that required teachers to fix or improve incomplete activities (not evaluated yet).

Results

Page | 33 Teachers´ manipulation skills Based on the analysis of pre and post-questionnaires (Q1,Q2) where teachers critically evaluated their skills in using certain ICT tool before the course and after completing the course we got the following results (fig.2).

5 4 Pre-round1 3 2 Post-round1 1 0 Pre-round2 Post-round2

Figure 2. Level of teachers´ familiarity with each of the ICT tool in both rounds of the course (1-not familiar, 2-slightly familiar, 3-moderately familiar, 4-very familiar, 5-extremeyl familiar).

Teachers´ manipulation skills increased significantly in both rounds of the course. After the course teachers consider themselves from moderately to very familiar with all the tools, except for the modelling tool where they just achieved the level of moderately familiar. We also investigated the manipulation skills for each of the tool in detail. Detailed analysis of datalogging manipulation skills showed that teachers feel from moderately to very confident in each of the manipulation skills. They are confident in particular in connecting interface and sensors, connecting sensor in software and setting the time-based measurement, however, they are still not confident in setting for triggering and sensor calibration. Concerning videomeasurement manipulation skills teachers feel from moderately to very confident in each of videomeasurement skills (scale settings, co-ordinate system, time calibration for video, correcting video points, setting point tracking), however, they are not so sure about perspective correction. From all of the tools teachers achieved the highest level of confidence in videomeasurement. Modelling manipulation skills seems to be the most demanding for teachers. They feel from moderately to very confident in using the model to understand phenomena, exploring model and creating a small change in existing model. Nevertheless, they are least confident in developing their own model. Comparing with the other tools teachers achieved the lowest level of confidence in modelling.

Table 3. Level of confidence in manipulation skills of certain tool (5 point scale, 1 – not at all confident, 5 – extremely confident).

Manipulation skills First round Second round Group 1 Group 2 Group 1 Group 2 Pre- Post- Pre- Post- Pre- Post- Pre- Post- course course course course course course course course Datalogging Connecting sensors to an interface, connecting an 3,3 4,6 1,3 3,8 2,6 4 2,2 4,3 interface to a computer Setting particular sensor connection in the 2,8 4,3 1,2 3,6 2,1 3,6 2,1 4,1 software Setting time-based 2,7 4,1 1,2 3,6 2,1 3,4 2,1 3,9 measurement Setting event-based 2,4 4,0 1,2 3,4 2,2 3,5 2,1 3,9 measurement Setting a measurement 2,3 3,8 1,1 3,3 1,9 3,3 2 3,5 based on a trigger event Determining the calibration factors of a 1,8 3,2 1,1 3,1 1,5 3,1 1,8 3,3 sensor

Videomeasurment Making scale settings 2 4,4 1,2 3,7 1,9 3,9 1,8 4 Specifying features of the 2,3 4,4 1,2 3,8 1,9 3,9 2,1 4 co-ordinate system Setting time calibration 1,8 4,3 1,1 3,5 1,8 3,6 1,5 3,8 for video Performing perspective 1,3 3,6 1,1 3,1 1,8 3,5 1,5 3,5 Page | 34 correction Correcting video points by dragging wrong 1,5 3,6 1,1 3,1 1,8 3,6 1,5 3,6 measured points to the correct position Setting point tracking 1,8 3,9 1,1 3,1 1,9 3,8 1,6 3,5 Modelling Using a given model to understand a 2,1 4,2 1,2 3,7 1,8 3,8 1,7 3,9 phenomenon Exploring to gain insight 1,8 3,9 1,2 3,4 1,7 3,5 1,6 3,5 into a given model Making a small change to 1,6 3,6 1,1 3,4 1,5 3,4 1,8 3,5 a given model Developing a computational graphical 1,5 3,3 1 2,9 1,3 3,1 1,5 3,2 model Developing a 1,5 2,4 1,1 2,8 1,3 2,9 1,6 3,2 computational text model

The levels of familiarity and confidence with ICT tools were also reflected in teachers’ own activities created as home assignments and observed through their manipulations with Coach in the computer test (for the second round) and in life sessions. During the course, the teachers developed their own Coach activities connected to each of the tool, i.e. data logging, video measurement and modelling. Levels of these activities varied from very simple to quite advanced (D1). More than a half of teachers applied basic ideas and skills, which can be found in exemplary Coach activities. Data logging for example,: change of temperature during heating, studying motion with a motion sensor; Video measurement: motion on an incline, free fall, oscillating motions; Modelling: model of uniform motions. They did not show neither new ideas of using Coach nor advanced skills with Coach. Concerning final projects (D2,D3), these involved a design of a lesson plan on the inquiry lesson implementing an activity enhanced by a selected ICT tools. There were altogether 37 teachers out of 39 participants in the first round and 27 teachers out of 29 participants in the second round who successfully finished the course. In figure 3 there can be seen a similar distribution of different ICT tools and activities among teachers in both rounds. Almost half of the teachers created datalogging activity and only a quarter of all the projects were devoted to modelling activity that is in correspondence with the results of self-evaluation of the manipulating skills gained by pre and post-questionnaires.

Figure 3. Distribution of teachers´ final projects (first round – left, second round - right)

Within the final projects, there were outstanding outcomes. Some teachers combined modelling with data logging or video measurement to stimulate nice investigations. Experimental data were used as input values of

model variables or compared with modelling results. The description of learning scenario showed that these teachers are familiar with the principles of IBSE. For instance, in the first round: a model of heating liquid with different electric appliances or a model of phase transition combined with real-time data from the temperature sensor, a model and a video measurement of a projectile motion or of a braking car in relation to different surfaces. Some teachers showed advanced skills with particular tool, e.g. videomeasurement on motion of the center of gravity of a hammer, model of motion in the presence of resistive forces. Some teachers just used basic skills but introduced nice ideas to apply the Coach Page | 35 tool, e.g. motion of diaphragm during breathing, comparison between a free fall and a horizontal projectile motion. In the second round, there were also some new, interesting ideas, e.g. using two sound sensors to measure speed of sound (Figure 4a) or modelling heat transfer between water and solid object (Figure 4b) (by modifying the given model of cooling down of a cup of coffee). Some teachers could define clear criteria for video clips from the Internet (Figure 4c) for video measurement (i.e. camera standing still, correct perspective, clear real scale).

a) b) c) Figure 4. Measuring speed of sound with two sensors, modelling heat transfer between two liquids, videomeasurement of rocket (from left to right).

Teachers´ skills to develop inquiry lesson plan The main goal of the final project was to develop an inquiry lesson plan on a certain topic enhanced by selected ICT tools. Teachers were expected to design a lesson plan with an activity at certain level of inquiry defining learning goals, materials and suggestions for use in the classroom and possible questions that teacher can ask in order to support inquiry and activity of students. The plan should have been complemented with a COACH activity and exemplary result, eventually, as well as with a worksheet for students (optional). The distribution of the tools among final projects is presented in fig. 3. We have used a hierarchy of inquiry levels defined by ESTABLISH project (http://www.establish-fp7.eu/), namely interactive demonstration/discussion, guided discovery, guided inquiry, bounded inquiry and open inquiry. The first level is based on the demonstration conducted by the teacher interactively probing questions and helping the students to reach conclusions in a scientifically correct way. The inquiry part here lies in the responses and explanations from the students. In the following levels students work in groups however the problem, methods or result can be known or not known for students. That makes the activity more and more open with more students´ independency and less teachers´ guidance (tab.4). Teachers were strongly recommended to trial out the lesson plan in the classroom, in the second round in particular.

Table 4. Levels of inquiry according to ESTABLISH project (http://www.establish-fp7.eu/).

Level of inquiry Question/Problem? Methods? Result? 1 Interactive discussion/demonstration 2 Guided discovery x x x 3 Guided inquiry x x 4 Bounded inquiry x 5 Open inquiry x

The analysis of lesson plans has shown the following results. The lessons were aimed at guided discovery or guided inquiry in most cases. Teachers suggested work in groups in a computer-based laboratory on a certain problem that was given by the teacher. Just in several cases teachers developed an activity at the level of interactive demonstration and none of the teacher designed a lesson using the highest levels of inquiry (fig. 5). This corresponds with the fact that teachers do not have too much experience with the use of inquiry strategies in the classroom (Q1) so that they preferred activities with more teachers´ guidance.

60% 40%

20% round 1 0% round 2 Page | 36

Figure 5. Distribution of different inquiry level teachers´ lesson plans.

The levels of lesson plans differed a lot. We have encouraged teachers to describe learning scenario involving inquiry steps from formulating a problem up to planning experiment/ model and its implementing and data analysing/ interpretation and conclusions. These principles have not been followed by all the teachers. However, there were also nice inquiry lesson plans on guided discovery, e.g. investigation of the speed of the sound using two motion sensors (fig.4a) or investigation of heat transfer between solid object and water when the real investigation in the lab was followed by investigation the model of heat transfer between water and two objects of different temperatures. There were some other nice investigations proposed with interactive demonstration where through the demonstration the problem of the effect of heat on temperature has been studied. Students with the help of teachers discovered different behaviour of different liquids while heating. The experiments lead to introducing the concept of heat capacity. In the second round we strongly encouraged teachers to trial out the lesson plan in the classroom. While in the first round there were just a few teachers who succeeded in implementing the lesson plan in the classroom, almost all the teachers implemented the proposed lesson plan in the classroom and they reflected on the implementation within the final presentation. Based on the Q3 sent out longer time after the course 61,4% out of all teachers did try out their lesson plan that they developed for the final presentation and 70,5% out of all teachers did try out with students the activities that they developed within the home assignments. There were only 13,6% of teachers that did not try out neither their own activity nor the lesson plan. This shows teachers´ motivation and effort to learn how to use ICT in the classroom to support IBSE, even if the conditions at school are not so supportive.

Conclusions and discussion

The course has been implemented faithfully and the modifications of the second round course proved to be appropriate. Considering the research questions it can be said:  Based on the analysis of Q1, Q2, O1, D1, D3 the manipulating skills improved a great deal after completing the course. In datalogging and videomeasurement teachers feel from moderately to very familiar, while in modelling they consider moderately familiar in average. Based on the analysis of Q3, teachers even after longer time still maintain their confidence. In fact, more than a half of the teachers did learn more about the ICT tools on their own. They actually taught with data logging and video measurement more often than they did before the course. However, there were just one third of teachers who could teach lessons with modelling tool after the course.  Teachers abilities to develop lesson plans based on IBSE strategies enhanced by ICT differ. However, based on the analysis of Q3 they still implement ICT into their IBSE lessons. Although ICT in IBSE was new and challenging, many teachers could carry out more try-outs of ICT in IBSE teaching in the classroom even after the course. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that the course has brought satisfactory results considering the proposed goals. We try to keep regular contacts with teachers in order to provide them with technical equipment, teaching and learning materials or any kind of advice complementing the online Moodle environment support. Many teachers regularly cooperate with the University and this cooperation resulted in follow up activities. Several teachers who have participated in ICT in IBSE course have been already involved in national projects aimed at IBSE and at their own schools they became leaders of the innovation efforts (APVV project).

Acknowledgment Development and delivery of the course was carried out with the support of the ESTABLISH project (FP7/2007- 2013 under grant agreement n° 244749) and Foundation CMA and SAILS project (FP7/2009-2015, under grant agreement n° 289085).

References Page | 37 Gerard, L., Varrna, K., Corliss, S., & Linn, M. (2011). Professional development for technology-enhanced inquiry science. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 408-448 Heck, A. & Ellermeijer, T. (2014). Realizing Authentic Inquiry Activities with ICT. In: M.F. Tasar (Ed.) Proceedings of the World Conference on Physics Education 2012,775-786 Hofstein, A. & Lunetta, V.N. (2004). The laboratory in science education: foundation for the 21st century. Science Education, 88, 28-54 Ješková, Z., Tran, T., B., Kireš, M., Ellermeijer, T. (2015). Implementation of an In-service Course on Integration of ICT into Inquiry Based Science Education: A Case Study in Slovakia, Proceedings of the GIREP- MPTL international conference, Universitá degli Studi di Palermo, ISBN: 978-88-907460-7-9, 617-628 Newton, L., & Rogers, L. (2001). Teaching science with ICT. London: Continuum. Novak, A.M., & Krajcik, J.S. (2004). Using Technology to Support Inquiry in Middle School Science. In L.B. Flick & N.G. Lederman (Eds.). Scientific Inquiry and Nature of Science (pp. 75-101). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Tamin, R., Bernard, R., Borokhovski, E., Abrami, P., & Schmid, R. (2011). What forty years of research says about the impact of technology on learning: A second-order meta-analysis and validation study. Review of Educational Research, 81, 4–28 Foundation CMA: http://www.cma-science.nl/ ESTABLISH project: http://www.establish-fp7.eu/ SAILS project: http://www.sails-project.eu/portal APVV national project on the Research of effectiveness of innovative methods in teaching mathematics, physics and informatics: http://ufv.science.upjs.sk/_projekty/vemiv/

Affiliation and address information Zuzana Ješková Faculty of Science University of Pavol Jozef Safarik in Kosice Kosice Slovakia email: [email protected]

Physical - Mathematical Modelling in Physics Teaching

Gesche Pospiech, Marie-Annette Geyer Department of Physics, Technical University Dresden, Germany

Abstract Page | 38 As mathematics is central to physics the question arises how the process of mathematization and the deliberate use of mathematical forms can be supported and prepared in physics education. The role of mathematics in physics and in physics education is analysed from the perspective of physics teaching. We focus on students in junior high school and start from the distinction of the technical and the structural role of mathematics in physics. Then we modify a physical-mathematical model, originally developed by Uhden et al (2012). Its applicability is explored by analysing modelling tasks and teaching strategies teachers described in interviews. It is shown that the model helps in a meaningful way in analysing the translation process stressing the structural aspects and gives hints, which steps, activities and competencies students need in order to solve physics problems. Furthermore it helps in identifying the focus of physics teachers and their teaching strategies in introducing students to the role of mathematics in physics.

Keywords Mathematization, physics education, teaching strategies.

Mathematics in Physics education – forming the process of mathematization along the educational career

This paper is a contribution to the symposium "Mathematics in Physics education – forming the process of mathematization along the educational career" of the GIREP Thematic Group "Mathematics in Physics Education". The goal of this symposium was to stress that mathematics plays an important role in physics education in every school level from junior high school (grades 7 to 10) up to university. During this educational career not only the mathematics or physics knowledge itself are important factors but also the attitudes of learners and teachers towards mathematization. Therefore one contribution of the symposium focused on students' attitudes and their influence on learning on university level (Ileana Greca: "The influence of epistemic views about the relationship between physics and mathematics in pre-service teachers"). A second contribution analysed the patterns teachers use in classroom in order to provide the students with insight into the interplay of mathematics and physics (Yaron Lehavi, Bat-Sheva Eylon, Esther Bagno: "PhysMatica – Going to the classroom"). In this third paper a model is proposed for developing and analysing modelling tasks as well as teaching strategies for introducing students of junior high school into the interplay of physics and mathematics.

Physical-mathematical modelling in physics teaching

This paper is divided into two parts: first we explore a theoretical model of the interplay of mathematics and physics with respect to its applicability to the analysis of modelling tasks. In the second step we evaluate whether the model could be useful for describing teaching strategies. This analysis is based on first empirical data from interviews, describing the views and strategies of teachers in teaching the structural role of mathematics in physics education.

Aspects of mathematics in physics If we speak about mathematics and physics there are many different wordings: there is the "role of mathematics in physics" or the "interplay between mathematics and physics". At first glance there seems not to be a big difference between these two descriptions, but nonetheless they have a different focus. The first wording suggests more the viewpoint of mathematics as a tool used in physics, partly as kind of hierarchy. Of course mathematicians would stress that only a small part of mathematics is used at all in physics and that the physicists do not really do mathematics as an art or science of proofs. On the other hand the second view suggests to regard mathematics and physics as separate areas nevertheless contributing equally to physics and that there are areas of physics unthinkable of without mathematics and the other way round namely that some notions of mathematics are heavily laden with physics. Both these views lead to distinguishing the technical and structural role of mathematics in physics (Pietrocola, 2008). The technical role comprises the aspects or activities mainly related to numerical procedures: calculating, using algorithms or drawing function graphs. Starting from a mathematical structure the numerical results are in

the foreground. On the other hand the structural role of Mathematics is characterized (Pietrocola, 2008) by the following descriptions: Physics inherits the formal operations and definitions of mathematical objects if these are used (use of vectors, derivatives,..) Mathematics orders the physical phenomena according to underlying patterns (e.g. analogies) Mathematics orders physical thought by the physical (concrete) meanings of its operations (limiting cases, Page | 39 functions,..)

Importance of mathematics in physics education It is widely acknowledged that mathematical abilities are necessary for doing physics at least at an advanced level. Since the times of Galileo, Huygens and Newton mathematical structures play an increasingly important role for developing physical theories. So there is no doubt that at university the study of physics requires a sound preparation in mathematics. Furthermore it is agreed that a certain preparation for this demand has to be done at high school. However, in junior high school often the use of mathematics is considered to be far too complicated and abstract for students. Therefore the focus often is laid on experiments and on conceptual understanding. These are indeed central points of physics. But if the students are supposed to learn about the nature of physics then it is also necessary that they get insight into the role and importance of mathematics for physics. This is also important because mathematical elements often are crucial in evaluating experiments. In order to identify the relevant aspects on the basic levels in junior high school first the role of different mathematical elements has to be analysed. We will do this with three examples: There are numbers with units, diagrams, e.g. function graphs, geometrical elements such as rays and arrows, functions and equations and more advanced mathematical techniques as differential and integral calculus. The use of mathematical elements in physics hence requires besides the mastering of aspects developed in mathematics lessons, additional competencies in transferring these to physics. This added difficulty we want to clarify with the example "numbers with units": In mathematics there are only numbers with their properties and the calculations rules. The units however, imply that the numbers have also to be interpreted from a physical point of view. Furthermore in experiments the numbers have to be considered together with the measuring deviation. This extra meaning results in additional cognitive load and hence will lead to more difficulties in physics than in mathematics. A second example is the notion of "function". The mathematical definition focusses on the aspect of relation between the independent and the dependent variables. In physics the functional dependence is the important aspect describing how one physical quantity depends on others. In addition it is not always clear which variable is the dependent and which the independent. Sometimes their roles can be interchanged. Also the distinction between parameters and variables often is difficult for students. Therefore it has to be taken into account that in general the mathematical elements cannot be simply transported into physics but have to be framed by the physical concepts (Bing &Redish, 2007). This has educational consequences. A special role is played by diagrams. They often occur in evaluating experiments, where the tabulated data from an experiment are visualized. In this way diagrams mostly serve as an intermediate step before reaching a physical law or a formula. In addition the visualization of theoretical relations can help students to remember the connection between physical quantities and the corresponding laws. In this way diagrams can contribute to reduce cognitive load and promote physical thinking. The physics educators have to be aware of the different aspects of the interplay between mathematics and physics which requires additional cognitive activities by the students. However, up to now only very little is known about the attitude of teachers. Their knowledge about the role of mathematics in physics and physics education has to be modelled as part of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), including general beliefs and insights in the interplay mathematics and physics, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of student ideas and problems and knowledge and implementation of instructional strategies taking into account the technical as well as the structural aspects (Pospiech et al, 2015). As part of such a model of PCK teaching patterns could be identified which mirror the different aspects of pedagogical content knowledge and the transfer in actual lessons (Lehavi et al, 2015). The prerequisite for the study of students' difficulties in detail as well as of teachers' attitudes and strategies is an underlying model helping in classifying these difficulties and stressing the structural domain of the use of mathematics in physics.

Model of physical-mathematical modelling In recent years in mathematics education a strong focus lied on the modelling and modelling activities in order that students gain insight into the use of mathematics for diverse applications. Herewith the modelling cycle was developed (Leiß&Blum, 2007). This cycle represents an ideal picture of the modelling process. Research in mathematics education, however, shows that the real modelling by students in general does not follow these steps in the sequential order but might go back and forth (Borromeo Ferri, 2006). Possible problems in modelling might be insufficient consideration of physical parameters or conditions or technical-mathematical problems Page | 40 during the solution. In addition, mostly students are not used to estimate quantities, so they feel unsure when they have to decide on these and to do the appropriate idealization. Also the evaluation of the solution has to be trained. A natural area of the application of mathematical modelling is physics. But as alluded to in the previous section physics has its own structures and concepts. Therefore the modelling cycle of Blum has to be refined in order to address the structural role of mathematics for physics with a focus on "the gap" between real world and mathematics, which in physics is not really a gap, but filled with physical meaning, (Uhden& Karam 2012, modified by Geyer, see figure 1).

Figure 1. The physical-mathematical mode This model focuses on the interplay in highlighting the "physical-mathematical" aspect. From the science theoretic point of view this model allows for distinguishing the technical and the structural role and allows for describing the deep interplay of mathematics and physics. Furthermore it enables educators to describe the way of mathematization precisely, because it has no strict circular path but allows for going back and forth: mathematization steps starting from the physical concepts, then stepwise translating to abstract mathematical formulation and then back with interpretation steps to the physical meanings of the constructs. These features are especially important from the educational point of view. We can describe different aspects of the translation process - e.g structural aspects, technical aspects or the relation between the world and its description with physical concepts. The focus of the model lies on describing the process of establishing or using equations or formula by successive idealization, modelling or solving problems using physical concepts and mathematical techniques. How it can be used to describe in detail this process and differentiate between different paths is exemplified in (Uhden et al 2012). This model has been applied to diagnose difficulties of students with physical mathematical tasks in detail (Uhden 2012). The model can also help in analysing in great detail such tasks with respect to the necessary cognitive steps and activities of students and therefore lying open their complexity (Müller 2013). By a slight extension this model can also incorporate necessary knowledge and its reproduction (Uhden, 2012). It has to be evaluated whether it could also be helpful in the analysis of teaching strategies. Lehavi et al (2015) have identified teaching patterns with a different approach. Some possible difficulties of students in treating physical-mathematical tasks are not included in the model: It was not constructed to highlight the different status of formulas. Formula might present principles such as e.g. Newtons Law, definitions as e.g. the pressure or specific laws as e.g. hydrostatic pressure or Ohms law. Not knowing about these differences can prohibit the appropriate use of formula. Furthermore it remains also an open question how diagrams could be integrated into the model. Diagrams play an important role for learners (Krey 2012, Pospiech&Oese 2014) and should therefore be included in a physical-mathematical model for education. However, the required cognitive steps are not easily incorporated.

Empirical results on students' problems and views If we come to the status of the mathematics in physics education from the learners' standpoint we have to distinguish several external influences. There are the requirements of final exams on the technical-mathematical side (Schoppmeier 2013) and the mathematical requirements in the text book problems of the higher secondary schools (Trump, 2014). It was shown that the mathematics in the final exams before university is quite basic,

mostly requiring knowledge from junior high school. This might be an indication that the additional semantics of mathematical constructs in physics alluded to before is quite essential. A hint in this direction is also given by Sherin (2001) analysing the physical meaning of equations and showing that mathematical structures could support physical statements and vice versa, but that students have difficulties in recognizing the underlying structures. In a detailed study of the transfer process Uhden (2012) showed that students of grades 9 and 10 (15 to 16 year old) have specific problems on the technical side (e.g handling of fractions and limiting cases) as well as on the structural side (e.g. the quantification of an idealisation). Page | 41 On the other side there are the perceptions of the students of the role of mathematics and its importance and the way it should be handled in physics elssons. In a study of university students several attitudes towards the role of mathematics in physics could be described (Ataide& Greca 2013): Mathematics as a tool, only to facilitate numerical calculations; mathematics as kind of translator of physical thought, a mere manifestation of physics, with the task of representing it in an understandable way; and mathematics as structuring physical thought and leading to new concepts. However, the views and strategies of teachers in this respect remain unclear. There are only some first exploratory studies on attitudes of physics teachers in this special area (Pospiech et al 2015, Lehavi et al 2015).

Research question

In the common view the use of mathematics in physics seems to be demotivating for students and a source of complaints for teachers. However, there is only little evidence supported by strong data. Therefore we pursue the goal to analyse with an example in detail the cognitive activities required by a specific complex task and the strategies teachers employ in order to introduce students to modelling and the use of formula. From the research on interest in physics it is clear that tasks with a strong connection to everyday life could motivate students. Especially for girls a context including topics from medicine or biology is of advantage. We confirmed this in a questionnaire for 8-graders asking for the interest in a given subject and in solving related problems (Pospiech & Oese, 2014). In a laboratory we furthermore saw that students apply more appropriate strategies in solving physical-mathematical problems if the problems did not explicitly contain numbers, thus inhibiting the rote application of routines (Uhden, 2012). Therefore tasks developed according to these guidelines seem to be promising for evoking a positive attitude towards mathematical elements. Concerning such tasks the questions arise:  Can the physical-mathematical model presented above help in identifying necessary steps for solving such problems and analysing them in detail?  What are teachers doing for supporting the learning process of students? In order to answer these questions we apply the model to a modelling task and analyse teachers' strategies.

Aplication of physical-mathematical model: Analysis of modelling task The modelling task has to fulfill the criteria mentioned above. Therefore we choose the following, developed by (Günther, 2008): Is it possible to inflate without pump, only with our lung, an air bed while another person lies on it? The solution of this tasks requires four major steps (see figure 2). The first step (1 in figure 2) is the identification of the appropriate physical concepts: air pressure has to be known, the concept and definition of pressure has to be applied. Furthermore the relevance of the difference of pressure between the inside and outside of the air bed has to be recognized. Then the problem has to be simplified by doing idealizations, such as idealizing the person by an regularly shaped body and assuming a homogeneous distribution of the load on the air bed, thus being able to estimate the pressure. The second step (2 in figure 2) requires to know the definition of pressure and the force of gravity, invoking "authority", symbolized by the arrow leaving the rectangle. These equations have to be combined, thus leading to the third step (3 in figure 2), the calculation of the pressure on the air bed. Now comes the decisive step 4a, the control and interpretation of the result and the conclusion: Are the units correct? Is the calculated value plausible? The pressure provided by the lung has to be at least the pressure exerted by body and air on the outside of the air bed. In step 4b it will be evaluated if the lung of an average person will be able to provide the necessary pressure. The result could be tested by a simple experiment with the students.

Page | 42

Figure 2. The numbers indicate the steps necessary to solve the task. 1: Idealization, invoking physical concepts. 2: Invoking known formula, deriving the final formula for solving. 3: Performing the calculation. 4a: Interpretation in the physical- mathematical domain, physical meaning of mathematical structures or results. 4b: Evaluating with respect to everyday life, checking the plausibility of results

Comparison of physical-mathematical model with empirical results: strategies of teachers Now it is interesting which strategies the teachers follow in order to provide students with the competence of modelling. It is to be expected that these are connected with the general views of teachers on the role of mathematics in physics education. In order to explore the field and to derive first hints to possible types of strategies in teaching, related to the described physical-mathematical model we conducted an interview study with experienced teachers.

Methodology We developed an interview guideline with very open questions which covered a broad variety of topics, such as furthering or inhibiting physical understanding by use of mathematics, role of representation changes and difficulties of students as well as own teaching strategies. The interviews lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. This was a joint study with Israeli and German teachers. Here we present only results from Germany. In Germany 13 teachers were interviewed with at least 15 years of experience in physics teaching. All teachers had the certificate to teach physics as well as mathematics from grade 6 to grade 12. One of the teachers was also involved in developing the physics curriculum.

Results from the interviews In order to frame the strategies we first present the general attitude of the teachers. They mostly followed the guideline of starting from everyday applications and qualitative understanding of physical concepts: „That one should teach physics in schools always related to applications.”. This is in accordance with the goal of rising and maintaining interest of students and belongs to the rectangle "World" in figure 3. Some stress the structural role: “..in some places you can arrive only with the help of equations at insights ..”. The technical role is mainly mentioned with respect to specific students' difficulties: “So, if they cannot transform the most simple equations, then I fail at many places, have to do lots of mathematics, even if I clearly preferred doing physics.", but not as a value in itself.

Figure 3. Focus areas in teaching strategies In the ideal procedure teachers are trying to maintain the connection to the real world and the qualitative analysis remains important: “You first arrive at qualitative statements.” (area 1 in figure 3) and they come back to the world “which subsequently can be checked in practice, ...” (area 4 in figure 3). But in more complex tasks

considering modelling as a whole, the teachers see big difficulties of the students: “Modelling and so on, there some are totally overwhelmed, I have sometimes the impression.” Concerning physical-mathematical tasks we can identify several different goals of teachers in area 2 of figure 3: 1) Exploration of quantitative relations w.r.t. to the world: “If I want to examine exactly how this is related, the force of the magnetic field as a function of the number of turns , …”. 2) Identification and knowledge of appropriate parameters: “They [the students] know that if something is Page | 43 heated, if the concrete plates on the highway are heated, they elongate. But ...if then comes the question, where the question is: “how many centimetres is it elongated?” - then there is again mathematics in the play. So, then the difficulties start again. …... then I have to know “There is the elongation coefficient: what is that?”. In the last statement also kind of invoking authority of pre-knowledge is included. 3) Derivation of new equations as a more advanced requirement: “Even more difficult is the replacement of quantities by adequate formulas and then the corresponding transforming, hence implying that deductions of a new formula from two other formulas causes big problems.” But to develop insights into mathematical derivations, belonging to area 2 in figure 3, is regarded an important ability of students. Also the reverse steps, belonging to area 4 in figure 3, are considered an integral part of mathematization: “Now you can see on the basis of this equation [Thomson's formula] what needs to be changed in this resonant circuit.". They see several drawbacks on the students' side they try to overcome in teaching:  Students do not reflect by themselves on the solution: “And therefore I make a very big point of the discussion of units, that the students really see that this must result in a force, then in end you need newton N.” Area 3 of figure 3 lies not in the strategic focus of the teachers, at least not in the advanced classes. However, the teachers are well aware of students' difficulties in the technical role, which is an important part of the pedagogical content knowledge, mentioned earlier.  Students have only limited knowledge of mathematical tools or structures: “so that if they have word problems or application tasks where something has to be calculated in physics that they exactly stick to what is constantly taught in math.”  Students have repeatedly the same difficulties: “So, it occurs again and again in physics, up to grade 12. … And just, that in the background is this constant of proportionality remains for many a mystery. “  Diagrams have own difficulties: “In drawing diagrams it is often hard for the students, you should not generalize, to fix the dependent and independent variable, meaning to label correctly the ordinate and the abscissa.” Besides these basic strategies and attitudes the teachers are aware of the fact that students need time for practice: “that it takes a certain amount of practice and a certain amount of time before the insight comes.”. In addition they mention the special role of diagrams, where an interpretation or the derivation of a law is quite difficult for students: "When I interpret a diagram, it is hard for many students to formulate a “the more – the more” statement.”

Conclusion and Perspectives

The physical-mathematical model presented here can be used for describing a broad range of mathematical activities in physics teaching. It is suitable to analyse physical tasks, to describe and analyse in detail students difficulties and also teaching strategies. Therefore in future studies this model can be used in order to develop teaching strategies and materials to facilitate learning the structural role of mathematics for students in all age groups in junior high school and in high school.

Acknowledgement We thank Caroline Stegert and Felix Eibenstein for conducting the interviews and performing parts of the analysis.

References Ataide, A. R. P. de, & Greca, I. M. (2013). Epistemic Views of the Relationship Between Physics and Mathematics: Its Influence on the Approach of Undergraduate Students to Problem Solving. Science & Education, 22, 1405–1421. Bing, T. J., & Redish, E. F. (2007). The cognitive blending of mathematics and physics knowledge. 2006 Physics Education Research Conference, 26–29. Borromeo Ferri, Rita. (2006). Theoretical and empirical differentiations of phases in the modelling process. ZDM, 38(2), 86– 95.

Günther, M., (2008). Mathematische Modellierung physikalischer Probleme in der Sekundarstufe I. Thesis. TU Dresden. Krey, O. (2012). Zur Rolle der Mathematik in der Physik: wissenschaftstheoretische Aspekte und Vorstellungen Physiklernender. Berlin: Logos. Lehavi, Y. et al (2015). Towards a PCK of Physics and Mathematics interplay. Teaching/Learning Physics: Intergrating research into practice. GIREP-MPTL, 843-851. http://www1.unipa.it/girep2014/ Leiss, D. & Blum, W. (2007). Modellierungskompetenz – Vermitteln, Messen & Erklären. In: Beiträge zum Page | 44 Mathematikunterricht 2007. Hildesheim: Franzbecker, 312-315. Müller, T. (2013). Mathematisierung im Physikunterricht, Thesis. TU Dresden Pietrocola, M. (2008). Mathematics as structural language of physical thought. In M. Vicentini & Sassi, Elena (Eds.), Connecting Research in Physics Education with Teacher Education, vol 2, ICPE. http://iupap- icpe.org/publications/teach2/index.html Pospiech, G. et al (2015). The role of mathematics for physics teaching and understanding. Teaching/Learning Physics: Intergrating research into practice. GIREP-MPTL, 889-896. http://www1.unipa.it/girep2014/ Pospiech, G., & Oese, E. (2014). Use of mathematical elements in physics – Grade 8. In Active learning – in a changing world of new technologies. Proceedings of the ICPE-Conference, 199–206. Prag: Charles University in Prague, MATFYZPRESS. Schoppmeier, F., Borowski, A., & Fischer, H. (2012). Mathematische Bereiche in Leistungskursklausuren. PhyDid A-Physik und Didaktik in Schule und Hochschule, 11(1), 28–40. Trump, S., & Borowski, A. (2014). Die Anwendung von Mathematik in Physik. In S. Bernholt (Hrsg.), Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung zwischen Science und Fachunterricht. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Didakt. der Chemie und Physik, 288–290. Uhden, O. (2012). Mathematisches Denken im Physikunterricht. Berlin: Logos. Uhden, O., Karam, R., Pietrocola, M., and Pospiech, G. (2012). Modelling mathematical reasoning in physics education, Science & Education, 21(4), 485–506.

Affiliation and address information Gesche Pospiech Chair of Physics Education Department of Physics TU Dresden Haeckelstraße 3 01069 Dresden Germany email: [email protected]

Assessment of STEM-design Challenges: Review and Design

Leen Goovaerts1, Mieke De Cock2, Wim Dehaene2 1KU Leuven Dept. of Electrical Engineering ESAT, Leuven, Belgium 2KU Leuven Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium

Page | 45 Abstract Since education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has become more important the last few years, a project to integrate these disciplines in Flemish secondary schools, called STEM@school has taken off in June 2014. In this project we try to increase the relevance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics by integrating them, making learning problem- centred, having explicit attention for research and design, making learning cooperative and using discipline specific educational research results. In order to accomplish this, we develop STEM-design challenges (Berland, 2013), that should be solved by pupils. To solve those challenges, they need to use their knowledge of all STEM-disciplines. Knowledge and concepts needed to solve the challenges are covered in the standard curriculum. But to solve the STEM-design challenge properly, pupils will need to show how going through the design process has taught them several concepts. This possibly implicit, procedural knowledge should also be assessed by process evaluation. In order to develop such an assessment strategy, first, current evaluation strategies are reviewed and analysed. Literature on Problem Based, Project Based and Inquiry Based Learning provides a range of evaluation instruments that might be useful to evaluate STEM-design challenges (Berland, 2013). Finally, a brief design will be presented on how the guidelines for evaluating pupils in a STEM-design challenge will be developed, based on the literature findings. This evaluation instrument is designed as an iteration between a bottom-up, starting by the challenges, and a top down approximation, starting from the known literature.

Keywords STEM, STEM-design challenges, assessment.

Introduction

Attention for education for pupils in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been growing over the past decade and there are increasing calls for emphasizing connections between and among the subjects. Advocates of more integrated approaches to STEM-education in secondary education argue that teaching STEM in a more connected manner, especially in the context of real-world problems, can make the STEM-subjects more relevant to pupils and teachers. The STEM@school project is a four year project, started in June 2014, in which a new approach to teach integrated STEM in Flemish secondary schools is developed, implemented and evaluated. The approach is based on five pillars: integration, problem-centred learning, research and design learning, cooperative learning, and discipline specific educational research input. This approach should give pupils a better idea of how they use science, mathematics and technology to solve real-world problems. By showing them the different aspects in STEM, they might make a more underpinned choice of studies and jobs. As said, STEM@school develops an integrated STEM curriculum. In order to call a program an integrated STEM program, some requirements have to be met (Heil, Pearson and Burger, 2013). First of all, the STEM course should treat two or more disciplines at the same time. In the first year of STEM@school, we focus on the integration between physics and mathematics, and include engineering. Secondly, pupils are encouraged to integrate ideas of different disciplines and to transfer ideas and concepts to another context. This will be facilitated by explicitly paying attention to model thinking. In the third place, pupils should be actively involved in research and design. This implicates that pupils should be aware of the fact that the path to solve the problem isn’t fixed (Banks and Barlex, 2014). They can use different strategies to solve the challenge or problem. And lastly, the learning content is introduced through a context or problem in a real world situation. STEM@school focusses on pupils with a strong scientific profile and begins in the third year of Flemish secondary school (grade 9). In this year, the integration of physics and mathematics is priory. A collaboration between secondary school teachers, educational umbrella organisations, educational scientists, physical scientists and engineers was set up in order to develop teaching and learning materials. While developing this learning materials, the philosophy, with its five pillars, of STEM@school are kept in mind.

The third year is divided into 3 different modules, each with its own STEM-design challenge and learning objectives. This year focusses on the integration of physics and mathematics in STEM-design challenges (Berland, 2013), but we seek after integration of all sciences in the coming years. This new approach to integrate STEM asks for a separate STEM course, in which pupils can use their knowledge from the traditional courses and construct new knowledge in order to solve the challenge or problem. The process pupils will go through to solve the STEM-design challenge is seldomly linear. (Capraro, Capraro, and Morgan, 2013) Pupils continually have to check their progress or results with the plan they made in the beginning Page | 46 and make corrections or adaptations if necessary so that steps can be repeated or left out (Bernholt, Rönnebeck, Ropohl, Köller, and Parchmann, 2013). Teams should be encouraged to take risks and to make mistakes, and the teams will not be penalized for making mistakes, because making mistakes is considered to be a learning experience (Brewer and Mendelson, 2003). This new approach of teaching and learning, with other goals than traditional courses, as described in the pillars, requires a new assessment strategy (VLOR, 2007), as Shepard (2000) mentioned before: “The measurement approach to classroom assessment, ‘exemplified by standardized tests and teacher-made emulations of those tests’, presents a barrier to the implementation of more constructivist approaches to instruction.” This paper searches for relevant assessment criteria of process evaluation in literature, practical examples where these criteria are used and proposes an own assessment strategy that can be used to evaluate pupils in the STEM- course. We don’t take the necessary content knowledge of the pupils into account, while developing this strategy. This knowledge can be tested separately in the traditional courses, rather, our focus is on non-traditional aspects of the STEM course, such as planning, improvements, collaboration,… In this paper, first, the used criteria for process evaluation, abstracted from literature, will be discussed. Based on this criteria some existing evaluation instruments are assessed. Finally, a STEM assessment design strategy is presented.

Literature

To start the design of an appropriate assessment strategy for STEM-design challenges, a literature review was carried out. The focus of the developed assessment instrument is on process evaluation. Therefore, we searched for literature on assessment in teaching methods that have common aspects with our approach, such as Project Based, Problem Based and Inquiry Based Learning. Based on this literature, we formulate criteria for the assessment of STEM-design challenges and review some examples in literature against these criteria.

Criteria for process evaluation In order to select relevant ingredients, general educational papers are read, and the assessment aspects extracted. The educational papers are found by following searching terms: assessment, portfolio, peer assessment, formative assessment. To be considered relevant, aspects should provide an added value, such as feasibility, differentiation and provide more information than knowledge tests. Based on these issues, nine criteria are selected: input of the pupils, observations of the tutor, peer evaluation, transparency, grade in dialogue, feedback, grading scale, multiple assessors and team effectiveness. These criteria are explained more in detail, motivated and linked to the literature below. Shepard (2000) argues that it is essential to collect pupils’ work and journals, in order to assess the more open- ended performance tasks, in which they have to reason critically, solve complex problems and apply their knowledge in real-world contexts. This input of the pupils should make their reasoning clear. Another essential element for data gathering according to Shepard (2000) is the observation of the pupils by the tutor. These data can be gathered by informal, on-going assessment. This allows teachers to provide assistance as part of the assessment. The hard part of this assistance as part of the assessment is that the balance between the mentor’s roles of coach and assessor is hard to find and should be carefully maintained. (Driessen, Van Der Vleuten, Schuwirth, Van Tartwijk, and Vermunt, 2005) The mentor should coach the pupils in a way that their learning process is maximized. On the other hand, the mentor should evaluate this learning process of the pupils. These roles conflict. A third possible part of the assessment is peer assessment. So far, peer assessment is not established in Flemish secondary schools. Nevertheless, a lot of benefits can be coupled to peer assessment. (Topping, 1998). It increases variety and interest, activity and interactivity, identification and bonding, self-confidence and empathy for others. On top of that, peer assessment can develop teamwork skills and promote active rather than passive learning. It can also develop verbal communication skills, negotiation skills and diplomacy. Although pupils might have a hard time during the peer assessment process, they admit that it is helpful to develop critical thinking. For the teacher, peer assessment can help with the differentiation of individual contributions to small- group projects. In order to get honest evaluations, it is important to make the peer review process simple.

Possible aspect to assess team members are: ability to work in group, amount of effort, dependability, intellectual contribution and overall contribution to the project (Subramanian, 2015). Coupled to peer assessment, self- assessment can be interesting for both pupil and teacher. It increases students’ responsibility for their own learning and makes the relationship between teachers and students more collaborative. An extra benefit seems that pupils become more interested in the criteria and substantive feedback than in their grade per se (Shepard, 2000). Although self-assessment is perceived even more difficult for students than peer assessment, it tends to be more reliable than peer assessments (Topping, 1998). Page | 47 In several research publications, transparency, feedback-mechanism and use of grading scale of a given assessment strategy are described together. For teachers, an assessment strategy is transparent when guidelines and rubrics are provided and when the evaluation criteria are explained to the pupils in advance. Driessen et al. (2005) and Bernholt et al. (2013) found that evaluation tools such as guidelines and rubrics and formative assessments to guide the feedback to the pupils and shape instructional decisions are essential elements in the assessment process. According to Shepard (2000), effective assessment provides feedback specifically targeted toward improvement. The existing literature on feedback does not describe learning gains when feedback is given. But Shepard (2000) argues that the existing literature of feedback will be of limited value to us in reconceptualizing assessment from a constructivist perspective, because the great majority of existing studies are based on behaviorist assumptions. On top of this, Shepard (2000) notices that pupils become more interested in evaluation criteria when they have to assess themselves. Therefore it is important to have explicit assessment cirteria. The criteria should be so transparent that pupils can learn to evaluate their own work in the same way that their teachers would. To create this transparency, displaying learning goals in 5 levels, argued with description, is a possible solution (VLOR, 2007). Driessen et al. (2005) found that pupil involvement in the decision process is essential in the assessment process. This dialogue with the pupils is important in order to ensure pupil’s commitment. When pupils are involved in the decision process about their grades, their dedication is higher. This kind of discussion also allows the pupil to communicate a different point of view to that of the mentor. The discussion between the mentor and the pupil will be enriching for both. Increasing the numbers of raters is an effective strategy in order to improve interrater reliability in assessment, according to Driessen et al. (2005). The different raters should have a good overview of the pupils’ skills, competences and learning process. To accomplish this, the raters should observe and be able to evaluate the pupils. This is time consuming and thus not feasible. To completely evaluate, all pillars of the STEM@school approach should be covered. One of them is cooperative learning. This team effectiveness can be evaluated using three outcomes: Creativity, collaboration and productivity. (Brewer and Mendelson, 2003)

Practical examples The nine criteria selected above, summarized in Table 1, serve the baseline for reviewing some practical examples described in literature. We searched for papers with the keywords Problem Based, Project Based or Inquiry Based learning in combination with assessment. A review paper (Belland, French, and Ertmer, 2009) that reviewed the same kind of papers we were looking for, but on other criteria, such as validity and reliability of the assessment instrument, was found. We used this review paper as a source of inspiration, selected the papers that were relevant to our search and added a few recent papers. Some research papers provided practical examples which fulfilled the same criteria. These were left out of the summary, because they didn’t add new information. In Table 1 some practical examples are collected and evaluated based on the chosen criteria. It is hard to find literature on assessment strategies that can be used in classrooms. Most assessments found in literature use a written report or exam to assess the problem solving skills of pupils and students. Half of the examined assessment strategies use input of the pupil as well as observations of the teacher. This combination can be very useful. Few strategies use peer evaluation or feedback. Grade in dialogue is not used in any of the practical examples.

STEM assessment strategy design

Based on the literature findings from the previous paragraph, an assessment strategy to evaluate pupil performance in STEM-design challenges is developed. This strategy is three dimensional: evaluation on group level, on individual level, and self and peer assessment. This evaluation instrument is designed as an iteration between bottom-up and top-down approximation. The bottom-up started by de challenges. The top down approximation started from the known literature. In Table 1 this new developed STEM assessment strategy is compared with other practical examples from literature, according to the criteria from literature. An overview of the different parts of the new developed assessment strategy can be found in table 2.

Table 1. Literature review

LITERATURE FINDINGS

Page | 48 scale Feedback Grading Transparency Peer evaluationPeer Grade inGrade dialogue Multipleassessors Input the of pupils Team effectiveness Observation of the tutor

Université de Sherbrooke x x x x (Hébert, D., Phil, and Bravo, 1996) School of Economics and Business x Administration (Maastricht) (Segers, 1997) School of Educational Sciences (Leuven) x x x x x (Segers and Dochy, 2001) Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University x x x

(Richards, et al., 1996) Training of doctors (Melbourne) PRACTICAL EXAMPLES PRACTICAL x x x x (Sanci, et al., 2000) STEM project based learning x x x x (Capraro, Capraro, and Morgan, 2013) School in the southwestern United States x x x (Pedersen and Liu, 2002) Harvard Medical school x x x x (Moore, Block, Style, and Mitchell, 1994) Proposed STEM assessment method design x x x x x x x x

(This work)

Table 2. Overview of own assessment strategy

FREQUENCY WHO HOW TOPICS GROUP 5 levels, described  Collaboration Weekly Tutor EVALUATION in rubrics  To handle problems  Schedule Beginning INDIVIDUAL 5 levels, described  Adaptations Middle Tutor EVALUATION in rubrics  Improvements End  How it went Divide a total of SELF AND  Creative ideas Middle points to the team PEER Pupils  Active participation End members and ASSESSMENT themselves  Honour commitments

Group level As part of the process, the team effectiveness should be assessed. The group can be evaluated by observations of the tutor. The tutor assesses the group on their collaboration and how they handle problems as a group, as can be seen in Table 3. The grading scale is divided in rubrics and levels. Each level is described, which makes the evaluation more transparent. This evaluation should be done on a weekly base.

Table 3. Rubrics for group evaluation

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5

There is a lot of One leader Because of Sometimes, The collaboration arguing within the decides who disagreements discussions get proceeds smoothly group, so no will do what, in the group, the tough, but and discussions are Page | 49 consultation is without group decides to eventually the solved in a calm done, and everyone listening to the give everyone group can way. does what he/she rest of the an individual continue the work thinks needs to be group. task. as a group.

COLLABORATION done. The group doesn’t The group The group The group thinks The group thinks

think when doesn’t think thinks thoroughly about thoroughly about problems arrive, the thoroughly thoroughly solutions for solutions for team doesn’t find a about solutions about solutions emerging emerging problems. solution and for emerging for emerging problems. When When no good addresses directly to problems. The problems, but no good solution solution comes up, PROBLEMS the tutor, even with first conceived needs always comes up, the the group addresses the smallest solution seems confirmation group waits too to the tutor in time, problem. the best, which from the tutor. long to get advice so they won’t waste

HANDLE HANDLE mostly is not from the tutor. too much time. the case.

Individual level The individual evaluation of the pupil’s process is performed with two different methods: one minute presentations and mini papers, both collected in a portfolio. The one minute presentation is a small presentation and should be prepared by each group member, but only a few pupils should give a presentation in a certain week. It contains a small outline of where in the module their work is situated and what the group will do during that lesson. Rubrics to assess this one minute presentation can be found in Table 4.

Table 4. Rubrics for individual evaluation by one minute presentation

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5

The pupil has The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can tell absolutely no clue explain what explain what make an perfectly where in where in the the group has still needs to be approximation the module the module the group already done, done, but can’t where in the group is. is. but can’t situate this module the situate their within the group is. action within module. ORIENTATION the module. The pupil has The pupil The pupil The pupil The pupil knows

absolutely no clue knows what knows what knows what what needs to be what needs to be still needs to needs to be needs to be done today and has done today in be done in the done today, but done today, but a realistic plan of STEM. module, but has no plan of has an action. has no clue action. unrealistic plan PREVIEW what will be of action. done today.

The mini paper that should be written by all group members individually in the middle and at the end of the module. Some questions can be given to the pupils to guide their paper writing. In the middle of the module, pupils should be able to answer following questions: Where, when, why and how did you need to adjust? What can you do better next time and how? At the end of the module pupils should answer the following questions in their paper: What went well? What went wrong? What can you do better next time and how? Rubrics for scoring these mini papers can be found in Table 5.

Table 5. Rubrics for individual evaluation by small papers

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5

The pupil can’t The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can tell how and tell when he tell when and tell how, when perfectly tell when he had to had adjust. where he and where he when, where, adjust. adjusted, but adjusted, but how and why Page | 50 has trouble to has trouble to he has adjusted. explain how explain why. and why. ADJUSTMENTS

The pupil can’t The pupil The pupil The pupil The pupil make any makes makes makes good makes good suggestions to suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for improve in the improvement at improvement at improvement, improvement. future. aspects that are aspects, but but forgets

MIDDLE OF THE MODULE already good. these won’t some aspects. improve IMPROVEMENTS anything. The pupil can’t The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can The pupil can

tell what went only tell what only tell what tell what went perfectly tell well and what went well, but went wrong, well and what what went well went wrong forgets what but forgets went wrong and what went during the went wrong. what went well. during the wrong during process. process, but the process.

WENT WELL/ forgets some WENT WRONG aspects.

The pupil can’t The pupil The pupil The pupil The pupil make any makes makes makes good makes good suggestions to suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for improve in the improvement at improvement at improvement, improvement.

END OF THE MODULE future. aspects that are aspects, but but forgets already good. these won’t some aspects. improve IMPROVEMENTS anything.

Self and peer assessment To avoid peers overrating each other (Topping, 1998) or giving each group member the same score, an alternative self and peer assessment is used. Pupils have to give themselves and their team members a score on three different topics: creative ideas, active participation to design and obey to the agreements. Extra questions can help pupils to give a correct score. For creative ideas, following questions can be posed. Who has the most original ideas? Who has multiple solutions? For active participation to design, following question could be posed. Who builds the design? Who thinks about the design? Who dares to think critical about the design? Grading how they obey the agreements can be done by following question. Who is able to comply with the agreements within the group? Grades can be chosen free, but for each topic only a limited total of total points can be distributed. The total point should not be dividable by the number of group members. For example, if you have a group of four pupils, the total points that can be distributed are 15. So pupils can’t score every group member the same.

Future research

A first version of a new STEM assessment strategy is developed, presented and discussed. The next step is to organise focus groups with experts in the domain of assessment. Based on their advice, the assessment strategy will be adapted and tried out by teachers. According to the research of Driessen et al. (2005), a few teachers should individualy evaluate the same pupils with the assessment strategy. The results will be checked for interraterreliability. Afterwards the teachers should discuss their gradings in focus groups. This will show the shortcommings of the assessment method. A new adaption will be necessary. When this process is finished, the assessment strategy will be ready to implement in the STEM course in all participating schools.

Acknowledgements The work described in this paper has been founded by Flemish government under the IWT-SBO project STEM@school.

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Affiliation and address information Leen Goovaerts ESAT-MICAS Faculty of Engineering Science KU Leuven Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 3001 Leuven Belgium e-mail: [email protected]

Enquiry for Physics Teachers Following the TEMI Methodology

Sara Barbieri, Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti University of Milan, Department of Physics, Italy

Abstract Page | 52 TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated) [TEMI, 2012] is a European Project addressed to science teachers all around Europe, with the aim of overcoming the students diffidence towards science, and to improve the teachers approach to teaching of science. In this paper we will discuss the innovations proposed in the project, and the way our group interpreted them. In particular, we will discuss the use of scientific theatre in connection with the development of the ability in showmanship of the teachers, and its role in the improvement in teaching.

Keywords IBSE, pre-service teacher training, secondary school education.

Introduction

TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated) is a European Project funded in the 7th Framework Programme [TEMI, 2012, Barbieri 2014]. TEMI is devoted to science teachers all around Europe. The aim of the Project is to help teachers in transforming their usual way of teaching in order to improve students’ learning, and overcome a diffuse disaffection for science in students from 6th to 11th grade [Rocard, 2007]. Teachers who participate to the project follow two workshops, divided into 4 afternoons, during which they have the possibility to become familiar with the TEMI approach to teaching, based on enquiry. The theoretical framework in which the TEMI project develops its proposal for teachers, is based on four key innovations: (a) The 5E learning cycle, as a reference model for the enquiry teaching [Bybee, 2006], where the phases Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate define the five steps needed for the learning of a particular scientific concept, its appropriation and its evaluation by the students themselves and by the teacher; (b) A mystery at the beginning of each 5E’s learning cycle: the mysteries play the fundamental role of generating the emotional involvement of students, thus contributing to motivate them; (c) The role of “showmanship” in teaching; (d) The gradual release of responsibility in the learning process: this last innovation is somewhat similar to the apprenticeship learning process that could be briefly resumes in three steps “Teacher does, teachers and students do, students do” [Collins, 1991, Windschitl, 2008]. In this work, we present the contents of the training workshops proposed to teachers by our group, where we developed the previously mentioned TEMI keys. We give particular evidence to the mysteries we chose for the workshops, all pertaining basic physics. We describe in further details TEMI and its first outcomes in another paper published in the GIREP 2014 Proceedings [Barbieri, 2014], while this work presents the project from a perspective focused on the teachers' activities. We devote a special attention to the concept of showmanship, a very important transversal tool for teaching that is greatly emphasized in the TEMI project. In this context, a very important point in Milan approach is to put particular attention on the use of scientific theatre to promote motivation and involvement, thanks to a plurennial activity in this field [The Show of Physics]. Although many teachers initially refuse showmanship abilities, considering their work markedly different from that of an actor, during the workshops they have the possibility to appreciate the common points between teaching and acting, and to start a reflection on some details that can capture students’ attention and stimulate creative processes in students’ minds.

General structure of the Teachers’ Professional Development Cohort

Each cohort is composed of two workshops that last two afternoons each. Our group proposes to the teachers also the attendance to a scientific theatre show between the two workshops. As we will explain later, this is a peculiarity of our group that is integrated in the TEMI approach to teaching. The cohorts let the teachers experience the TEMI approach.

The first afternoon (Engagement and Challenge 1) starts with a brief introduction to the TEMI approach and then the teachers are engaged with a good mystery, as if they were students. As we will discuss in the next paragraph, the mystery must be chosen carefully. Here we stress that the presentation of the mystery is a first chance for introducing some hints of showmanship. In fact, we put in great evidence that careful choices on how presenting the mystery are necessary in order to be effective. They are then guided to the 5E’s method, starting by the mystery and following step by step what students should do during a TEMI lesson. During the second afternoon (Engagement and challenge 2), we present other examples of mysteries and 5Es, Page | 53 and we go deeper in the way to improve their own showmanship. The second Workshop introduces the teachers to the Gradual Release of Responsibility, and they experience the task of creating a lesson since the very beginning. After the third afternoon the teachers are requested to attend a scientific theatre show, where they can see in practice how theatre can help in creating engaging. Theatre in fact can be a useful tool to increase the interest of the students toward a scientific subject. Before the final afternoon teachers are asked to try the TEMI methodology in their classrooms with a simple mystery that matches their curriculum necessities. Finally, in the fourth afternoon, teachers refine their ability in Gradual Release of Responsibility and show to the other participants their work in classroom, and their planning.

The Show of Physics

The Show of Physics is an initiative, which came to life in 2004 from a concept by Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti and Nicola Ludwig, the three researchers/actors of the Department of Physics of the University of Milan, authors of the project [The show of physics]. The project was developed after noticing that science is often perceived as a difficult, alien subject, because it is very far from daily life and subject to study by very “original” experts. Unfortunately no-one seems upset (at least in Italy) when people, even if they are educated, boast their ignorance of science. As a result, we felt the desire to promote science and in particular, physics, to have people know it and appreciate its wonders, from one fixed starting point: science is exciting and surprising. Physicists enjoy studying, because understanding and discovering is exciting. The story of scientific discoveries is made by people who - in the face of a phenomenon - became curious and were not satisfied with a partial explanation. In order to do research you need to be non-conformist and to have the courage to propose explanations, even unlikely ones, to take a step forward, even if that means destroying consolidated certainties. The activity, documented by various scientific publications [Carpineti, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 (1,2,3), 2014] intends to innovatively promote the circulation of scientific culture; to answer a demand for renewal which comes from the world of education; to develop an activity which brings out the appeal of physics, its creative and funny facets, and which leads to overcoming the classic book presentation of this topic. The choices we made are to avoid the explanations, not to turn shows into lectures; not to play out biographies of scientists, but to stage science as the leading character and finally, to avoid popularization that, in the best-case scenario, conveys notions, simplifying concepts in a day-to-day language. Unfortunately, the popularization of concepts, tends to misrepresent the meaning of what we wish to convey: in order to create a passion for a topic it is necessary to use its wonderful, clear and powerful language - which for physics is not just made of technical terms but also of experiments, images, charts, insights...-, otherwise there is a high risk of losing its appeal. Have you ever tried to illustrate the Mona Lisa with words, without showing the painting, hoping that someone come up with it? The initiative “The physics show” has performed seven shows and one lecture/show, that, until November 2015, had 355 replicas, and were attended by ca. 100,500 people. We created a show especially for TEMI, by rebooting two previous shows of ours – “Alice in Scienceland” and “Alice in Energyland” – in order to have a further help in conveying the themes of TEMI. The show title is “Light Mystery” (in English also when it is played in Italian). The English was chosen to stress the international level in the TEMI project, but also because the show was born in 2015, the International Year of Light. However the word “light” is used also in the intention of stressing the lightness of the way physics is presented, with the intention that the show should be light to watch, entertaining for the audience. In fact, it does not have any claim to be educational or explanatory but, on the contrary, its purpose is to appeal, create engagement, to trigger questions, to arouse curiosity; in other words to draw people to the world of physics through wonder and entertainment. The theme of light was chosen especially because, as mentioned in the show, “light is in front of everyone’s eyes” and has many links with other science topics, like Chemistry, Biology, Natural Science in general, and Mathematics.

“Light Mystery” is a theatre play, but we also use it it as a teaching tool according to the TEMI approach. In fact, starting from the script of the show, we have created a publication that is going to be translated in all the languages of the TEMI partners, where we commented each part of the show text in order to offer the teachers a useful tool in their classrooms. We will not enter in much details apart from saying that the structure of the show allows for freedom of re- modulating and adapting the text to special needs or different subjects. There are three characters with different spirit: The first one is a teacher who has a great passion for her/his Page | 54 subject, but who is too tied to a traditional learning approach; the second one is an egocentric person, who has to perform a conference, believing to know the truth on everything; the third one is a slightly incoherent and creative person always on the search. There are also three scenes that are an “Initial Test”, a “Lecture” and a “Final Exam”. Each scene has its own structure by disciplinary thematic episodes, the number of which may be changed to one’s liking. Each episode may also be taken out of the context and be reviewed to be performed individually as a very short performance (approximately ten minutes) to be shown at school by teachers or students. More generally, in the booklet, teachers can find inspirations for their lessons, funny exercises for their students, techniques for engaging them, showmanship and mysteries. Many of the mysteries that we propose in our cohorts for teachers come from our shows, as for example “A flower hidden by the cold”, “Never be too rigid” “Guess the colour!” Or “The curved light” [TEMI, 2012], [TTW, 2015])

Mystery and showmanship

According to the TEMI approach, in the Engage phase a science mystery is presented whose explanation needs to be sought. Mysteries are essential for the Engage phase and are one the basic ingredients for a TEMI lesson. They are the key to attract students’ attention and to capture them in the new approach. Therefore, in our cohorts addressed to teachers, we devote special attention to them. As a first point, we present mysteries that could match teachers’ needs, keeping into account that our teachers mostly teach in the 11th -13th grade. Mysteries should pertain topics familiar to teachers’ previous knowledge, and therefore topics have to be simple and common in secondary school. For that reason we chose to cover the following themes: States of matter, Phase transitions, Geometrical optics, Oscillations and harmonic motion, Colours (both for what concerns the additive synthesis and the subtractive one). As a second point, we carefully selected mysteries adequate to show the TEMI methodology, in the same time engaging, but with a simple solution. Finally, we chose mysteries that could be solvable in a short time, because teachers have to become familiar with the methodology in (only) four afternoons. In order to make the presentation of “mysteries” and the five phases above, effective from a teaching perspective, the teacher’s role should be different from the traditional one. In fact, teachers should be aware of the importance of theatricality needed in their role. This does not mean that they should be actors on a stage, but they should recognize that giving a captivating presentation of the mysteries (engaging, experimentally clean etc.), combined with good leadership skills, will provide a well-structured framework for knowledge transfer. That will make a clear and successful teaching model by which the actual responsibility of learning will be passed gradually from teacher to students over the years. We discuss here the mystery “The curved light” to give a detailed example of the TEMI approach.

The curved light – an example of TEMI mystery

“In order to bring questions to life you have to feel surprised by a mystery. And I have found the mystery in light I was looking for! Our sky is a natural stage of fantastic light phenomena, like mirages for example … Under particular conditions the light beams passing through the atmosphere do not propagate in a straight line, as we know, but they bend”. This is one of the last sentence of the show Light Mystery. One of the characters shows to the public a Plexiglas pan filled with a transparent liquid, and shines a laser beam in it. Something mysterious occurs…the light path is curved! This mystery starts from something all the students well know: light rays propagate rectilinearly. This can be easily seen by placing micro-particles of powder or some smoke along the path of a laser beam. But then: how can the laser light, propagating in the given Plexiglas pan filled with something perfectly similar to water, be curved? This is the mystery that a teacher can propose to the students. The experiment mimics what happens in the atmosphere: air index of refraction (optical density) is not uniform, but varies with continuity when moving from the Earth surface. However, in everyday life we do not have chance to see curved propagation.

Page | 55

Figure 1. An image of the curved light – “Light Mystery” show

The laboratory will help students to understand the connections between figures that they find in the books and what they observe in their life. “The curved light” mystery is a very good mystery under many aspects: • It generates curiosity in students; • It allows to gain conceptual knowledge along the way to the answer; • It is suited to the curriculum; • It is surprising because it conflicts with students’ common conceptions (light propagates rectilinearly). However, all that is true only if it is presented in the right way. Light is visible, and we may think that it is enough, but without showmanship this mystery is not effective at all. How can showmanship help us? We can find some hints just in theatre. One ingredient is “darkness”. Without darkness a light phenomenon may become invisible. Another ingredient is creating expectation: The straight propagation should become evident to students before throwing the laser into the pan that curves the light. As a first step, light should be shone in the air after having dispersed talcum powder, so to emphasize the difference, when the light bends. These are only a couple of relatively simple ideas that a teacher can find in a theatre show. It is impressive to notice how many experiments presented in the classrooms could become extremely engaging for students when the teachers use the proper care in presenting them. The next stage after the Engage one is the Explore one. In this stage the teacher shall guide the students in realizing experimental setups in order to investigate the trajectory of a laser beam in different cases: • setups in which the beam propagates from the air through different media: glass, water, transparent oils, glycerol, alcohol,… • setups in which the beam propagates into a pan containing two non-miscible media with different refraction indexes. In the following “Explain” phase, the teacher may guide students in the process towards their awareness of what they explored, by means of questions such as: • What happens to the direction of propagation of light when the medium in which it propagates doesn’t change ? • Is there a property that you can assign to a transparent medium in order to describe the behaviour of a light beam? • Using a goniometer, can you try a quantitative description of what you observe? And as a final task for the students the teacher asks them to create a qualitative model that can explain the curve trajectory they observed. In this phase, students formulate hypotheses that they will try to test in the following “Extend” phase. The teacher has a very important role as she/he may guide students in recognizing refraction in the optical effects all around them, looking for similarities with the observed phenomenon. These are possible suggestions for stimulating the extension of the problem view: • What happens to a straight object partially immersed in water? Why does it appear broken at the water surface? • Lenses and mirages work by means of refraction. • Gravitational lenses are a very intriguing and complex related topic. It is possible to approach it in analogy with the glass lenses. The final phase in the “Evaluation” one. This is not only for teachers and their usual evaluation of students, but it is also for the learners, which should have the possibility to evaluate their current understanding, the points that should be better clarified and the points that they can be considered understood. In the case of “the curved light” the teacher can make oral interviews during which he/she asks the students to make a prediction about the trajectory of a laser beam that propagates in different experimental situations and use an evaluation matrix expressly developed for inquiry activities. This can be considered a starting point for a discussion that involves all the topics treated and can be very useful to increase students’ consciousness of their learning.

Conclusions

Until now, our group carried out three cohorts using the TEMI methodology, with more than 50 teachers. Teachers of our cohorts were attending the courses to get a qualification for teaching physics at secondary school and have been selected after 3 disciplinary-content-based exams. At the end of the cohort, an evaluation questionnaire was given to them. So far we can say that the TEMI approach is appreciated by the teachers, who Page | 56 become in a short time rather confident with the methodology, developing a good Pedagogical Knowledge (PK). However, they seem to have too many difficulties in focusing on the conceptual disciplinary knots to be able to really and properly put into practice enquiry lessons with their students. That’s because they were lacking the necessary Content Knowledge (CK), and this in spite of the fact that they were selected through disciplinary based examinations. We have some indications that, besides maintaining students motivation, in order to implement CK into PK to get PKC, showmanship (through theatre) can help teachers and students focusing on conceptual knots and their relations to learning and culture. Further results concerning the use of TEMI with teachers are discussed in the paper “Teachers participant to the European Project TEMI practice the enquiry methodology in their classroom” by Barbieri, Carpineti and Giliberti in the present electronic version of the GIREP 2015 proceedings.

Acknowledgements This work was partially supported by Project TEMI, FP7-Science-in-Society-2012-1, Grant Agreement N. 321403

References Barbieri, S. R., Carpineti, M. and Giliberti, M. (2014). The European TEMI Project Involves Italian Teachers: First Outcomes. Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference, 759-766. Bybee, R., Taylor, J. A., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Carlson, J., Westbrook, A., Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins and Effectiveness. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS. Carpineti M. and Giliberti M. (2014) Il teatro di fisica come primo passo verso l’Inquiry based Science Education nel progetto europeo TEMI (The theatre of physics as a first step towards Inquiry based Science Education in the European project TEMI); Journal of Physics of the Italian society of Physics, 55, 339. Carpineti M., Cavinato M., Giliberti M. A. L., Ludwig N. G., Perini L. (2011). Theatre to motivate the study of physics. JCOM: JOURNAL OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS, 10, 1-10. Carpineti M, Giliberti M, Ludwig N (2011). Luce. In: Attori del sapere. Un progetto di teatro, scienza e scuola. (Light. In: Actors of knowledge. A project of theatre, science and knowledge). Milan: Scienza Express edizioni, ISBN: 978-88-96973- 20-2 Carpineti M, Giliberti M, Ludwig N (2011). Tracce. Fisici in teatro. In: Attori del sapere. Un progetto di teatro, scienza e scuola (Traces. Physicists at the theatre. In: Actors of knowledge. A project of theatre, science and knowledge). Milan: Scienza Express edizioni, ISBN: 978-88-96973-20-2 Carpineti M., Cavinato M., Giliberti M., Ludwig N., Perini L. (2009). Guida agli esperimenti di Facciamo luce sulla materia: lo spettacolo della fisica (Guide to the experiments of Let’s shine light on the matter: the physics show). Segrate: CILEA, ISBN: 978-88-88971-15-5 Carpineti M., Cavallini G., Giliberti M. A. L., Ludwig N. G., Mazza C. (2008). Let's shine light on the matter: a physics show for primary school. Modelling in physics and physics education: proceedings GIREP conference 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands. p. 819-822 Carpineti M., Cavallini G., Giliberti M., Ludwig N., Mazza C., Perini L. (2007). Let's shine light on the matter: a physics show for primary school. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS OF THE ITALIAN SOCIETY OF PHYSICS, 48, 117-129. Collins, A., Brown, J. S. and Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: making thinking visible. American Educator. http://www.learnpbl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Cognitive.pdf Rocard Report: European Commission (2007). Science Education NOW: A renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Commission. TEMI. European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 321403 – 2012-1 http://teachingmysteries.eu The Show of Physics: http://spettacolo.fisica.unimi.it TTW, AAVV (2015), Teaching the TEMI way. How using mysteries support science learning– Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated Eds: Peter McOwan, Cristina Olivotto Windschitl, M., Thompson, J. and Braaten, M. (2008). Beyond the Scientific Method: Model-Based. Science Education. 92(5), 941-967.

Affiliation and address information Sara Roberta Barbieri Physics Department University of Milan Via Celoria 16 20133 Milano Italy Page | 57 e-mail: [email protected]

Professionalization through Practical Training. The Application of Pedagogical Content Knowledge within the Physics Teaching-Learning-Lab

Susan Fried, Thomas Trefzger Department of Physics, University of Würzburg, Germany

Page | 58 Abstract With the release of the Standards for teachers’ education by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany the need and demand for more practical training during the pre-service teacher education became a more and more important topic in Germany. The Standards should make the pre-service teacher education more competence oriented. Based on Shulmans work for example Baumert and Kunter divided the professional competence of teachers in three parts: the content knowledge (ck), the pedagogical content knowledge (pck) and the pedagogical knowledge (pk) (Baumert 2010, Kunter, 2011). The University of Wuerzburg has been trying to improve the science pre-service teacher education and to increase the practical training by founding the MIND Center in 2009. Heart of the Mind Center are the students’ lab where the possibility of connecting school, pre-service teacher education and research is realised. In the teaching-learning-lab the pre-service teachers set up experimental stations and didactic units, which are performed with students afterwards. Subsequent to every implementation the pre-service teachers get feedback from the peer-group and experienced experts. So the pre-service teachers get the chance to change and enhance their stations before the next implementation. Object of the examination is the application of pedagogical content knowledge (pck). At first we would like to know, if the pck of the pre-service teachers increases due to the students’ lab-seminar. In addition the survey focuses on the knowledge pre-service teacher use while creating their experimental stations and the implementation with school-classes. A mixed-method- approach is used to survey the application of pck. The quantitative part based on the project KiL by the IPN Kiel and the Diagnoser project by the National Science Foundation and the University of Washington. The qualitative part enables us to get more information about the pre-service teacher’s basics they use to set up their experimental stations and the implementation.

Keywords Pedagogical Content Knowledge, students’ lab, pre-service teacher education.

Motivation and Background

In 2004 the Standing Conference of the Ministers releases the Standards for teacher education in Germany. The Standards should help to improve the pre-service education, by issuing competences the pre-service teachers have to learn till the end of their education. Professional teaching competence is a good predictor for student performance and can’t be imparted enough during teacher education (Baumert, 2010). As the Ministers decide, the pre-service teachers should “know general and specialised didactics and know what is important to plan lessons”. In the practical parts of the education the pre-service teachers should learn “how to link content and pedagogical content arguments and plan and design lessons”. These competences could be supported by “testing and reflection a theoretical concept in (…) simulated lessons, natural lessons or at out-of-school learning facilities” (KMK, 2004). This shows the importance of practical training during the pre-service teacher education. There are several things important for the practical training. It could be shown, that there must be much time to prepare the lessons and much time for reflection after the performances (Tschannen-Moran, 1998 and Makrinuis, 2013). In addition to this the situation the pre-service teachers handle must be easy, e.g. in microteaching settings (Merglera, 2003). As mentioned above the University of Würzburg tries to implement the claims in the Standards and the features for a practical training in the students’ lab (Völker, 2009 and Elsholz, 2014). The physics students’ lab is a seminar for the pre-service teacher scheduled in the sixth term. It is divided in a preparation period and a practical training. During the preparation period the pre-service teachers set up experimental stations for a certain topic of the curriculum and plan a didactical unit with the station. At the end of the ten weeks lasting preparation period, the pre-service teachers have to combine all the experimental station to one students’ lab. This is necessary, because one students’ lab theme is divided into subtopics, which should be composed to one students’ lab. As the students have to work with iPads, one focus of the pre-service teachers during setting up their stations is the modern media. The pre-service teachers need to know which media can be implemented in the digitalised worksheets and how this can be done. The preparation period is followed by four

to five practical trainings. In the trainings several school classes are visiting the students’ lab. The pre-service teachers perform their experimental stations with the school classes. To create an easy situation the pre-service teachers perform always the same station and need to handle only four to five students at the same time. The students change the stations after 45 minutes. After every performance a feedback round with the peer-group and the experts takes place. In connection to the feedback the pre-service teachers get time to change their station or the didactical unit. Afterward the next performance with a different school class takes place. Page | 59 Theoretical background

Competence is an important word in the Standards. Weinert defines competences as “cognitive abilities and skills that individuals possess or can learn for solving problems, and the associated (…) motivational, volitional and social readiness and abilities that enable them to use these solutions responsibly and successfully in a variety of situations.” (Weinert, 2001). Based on this definition Weinert transfers the concept of competence to the action field of teaching and defined the concept of teachers’ professional knowledge. In his definition the concept combines “intellectual abilities, content-specific knowledge, cognitive skills, domain-specific strategies, routines and subroutines, motivational tendencies, volitional control systems, personal value orientations and social behaviour” (Weinert, 2001) as important features for a teacher. Based on this concept several surveys tried to model and evaluate the teachers’ professional competence, e.g. COACTIV (Baumert, 2010) or LMT (Ball, 2005).

Figure 1. Model of Professional Teaching Competence by COACTIV (Kunter, 2011)

The competence model of COACTIV is shown in the picture above. Based on Weinert the professional teaching competence is divided in four aspects: motivational tendencies, volitional control systems, personal value orientations and social behaviour and the professional knowledge. Besides content knowledge (ck) and pedagogical knowledge (pk), the pedagogical content knowledge (pck) is one of the three dimensions of the professional knowledge. The surveys were able to show, that between the pck and the students’ performance consists a positive connection (Baumert, 2010, Kunter, 2011), and that the pck is important for setting up cognitive activating classroom situations and to support the learning process of the students (Ball, 2001). As Shulman (1987) mentioned, pck is the knowledge that helps teachers to structure, to explain, to describe and to link scientific contents. These abilities are the differences between an expert and a teacher. Based on Shulmans definition Magnusson, Borko and Krajcik (1999) expanded the definition and defined five components of pck: Science teaching orientation, Knowledge of students understanding of science, Knowledge of science instructional strategies, Knowledge of science curriculum and Knowledge of assessment in science. Since this several studies tried to invent a model to further examine the physics pck, for Germany the works in the projects

ProwiN (Borowski, 2010) and ProfileP (Kulgemeyer, 2015) nas to be mentioned. Another model of physics pck is created by Neumann and Kröger (2013) in the project KiL by using Magnussons description. Their model contains three dimensions: the scientific content, the state of knowledge and the pck-facets. The four pck-facets again are divided into assessment, instructional strategies, curriculum, and student cognitions.

Research questions Page | 60 Following up this theoretical background the survey investigates how the students’ lab as a version of practical training affects the acquisition and the application of pck. At first it should be investigated, if the pck of the pre- service teachers develops due to the students’ lab. In addition to this the survey focusses on the pck the pre- service teachers apply during setting up their experimental station and planning the didactical unit.

Design & Research methods

To answer the research questions above a mixed method approach is used. The survey proceeds four semesters starting in winter term 2014-15. With this survey period we reached about 60 pre-service teachers as participants. Every survey contains two paper and pencil tests in a pre-post design, which are answered by the pre-service teachers at the beginning and the end of the term. In addition to this the pre-service teachers have to answer three questions in a logbook. To answer these questions the pre-service teachers need three weeks of time. The first question is supposed to be answered before the first performance of the students’ lab. The second question needs to be answered after the first performance. And the last question must be answered at the end of the term. The first paper and pencil test contains items of the project KiL (Kröger, 2013). For the test twenty items for the physics pck and ten items for the topic specific ck are selected from the KiL test. The pck test contains three items for assessment, eight items for instructional strategies, four items for the curriculum and five items for students’ cognitions. The test belonging to the project Diagnoser contains 13 Items for the knowledge about students’ conceptions (Thissen-Roa, 2004). The items are selected by the topic of the students’ lab. In the Diagnoser project the items are used to survey the knowledge of students. Contrary to this the items should be used to survey the knowledge of pre-service teachers, so the items have to be modified. In the picture below an item out of the project is given on the left side.

Figure 2. Example out of the questionnaire about Students Conceptions (www.diagnoser.de) Four students are discussing the concept of energy. Every student gives a statement what he or she believes is right. The pre-service teachers should select a wrong answer and write down the underlying students’ conception for the selected answer. To every answer of this question a so called facet is given by the project Diagnoser. This facet also serves as the coding manual for the analysis in the survey. The logbook helps to analyse the application of pck by the pre-service teachers during the students’ lab. In the first logbook question the pre-service teachers should describe the design and development of the materials and

the experiments of their students’ lab-station. During the description the pre-service teachers should focus on the ck and the pck they applied during designing their stations. In the second question the pre-service teachers should describe the first performances with the school classes and establish changes they make on the materials and the experiments. The focus here lies on the ck and the pck they apply during changing and the description of the first performance. In the last question the pre-service teachers describe and establish considerable changes they make on the experimental station or their performance during the students’ lab.

Page | 61 Current Results

The first surveys took place in the winter term 2014-15 with 18 participants and in the summer term 2015 with 17 participants. The topics of the students’ labs were energy for the winter term and optics for the summer term. Most of the pre-service teachers were studying teaching profession for higher education. Over the half of the pre- service teachers were male and in the fifth or sixth semester. Table 1 shows the mean values for the pck pre-test by the project KiL. It shows, that the sum score of the pre-test with a value of 10.19 is half of the maximum sum score 20. This shows that the test is balanced and the item selection has worked well. The items have different means, e.g. item 9 is a difficult item in contrast to item 14, which nearly everybody was able to answer. In addition to the sum score correlations are calculated. For the pck pre-test correlations between the grade in A-level with a value of -.567** and the physics grade in A-level with a value of .579* could be calculated. It is interesting that there is a correlation between the several practical trainings and the pck, e.g. between the education experience with a value of .386*, the practical experience with a value of .376* or the second practical study with a value of .392*. The significance of correlation is given in the stars after the values. * means a significance with α < .05 and ** with α < .01.

Table 1. Values for the mean of the pck pre-test for all 35 participants.

Item PCK Mean 1 .74 2 .58 3 .13 4 .85 5 .17 6 .76 7 .83 8 .65 9 .18 10_1 .39 10_2 .71 11 .59 12 .44 13 .26 14 .90 15 .59 16 .59 17 .71 18_1 .61 18_2 .60 Sum score 10.19 (20)

In table 2 the means for the ck pre-test energy and optics belonging to KiL are collected. With a sum score of 6.56 for the energy test and a sum score of 5.50 for the optics test with a maximum sum score of 10.0 each, it could be seen, that the items selection works well. Comparing the sum scores of the tests, a higher sum score results for the energy test, than for the optics test. Optics is less important in the school education and in the pre- service teacher education than energy, this could be an explanation for this result. The ck test for energy shows no correlation to the assessed variables. For the ck test optics correlations with the advanced experimental course of .664**, the physics didactics 1 with -.598*, the school experimental course 1 with -.481* and the advanced physic didactics with a value of .617** could be seen.

In table 3 the results for the pre-test about knowledge of students’ conceptions are summarized. The means show that there are very difficult items, e.g. item 3 with a mean of .00 in energy test and item 5 with a mean of .10 in optics test. Looking at the sum score of the tests similar results are shown. The energy test has a sum score of 5.16 and the optics test a sum score of 5.50 with a maximum sum score of 13 each. This shows that the test of students’ conceptions is difficult. The calculation of the correlations results in no impact of the variables and the students’ conceptions test for energy. For the optics correlations between the semester with a value of -.489*, the Page | 62 physics grade in A-level with a value of .761*, the first practical study with a value of -.473*, the advanced experimental course with a value of -.472* and the physics didactics 2 with a value of .509* could be calculated.

Table 2. Values for the mean of the ck pre-test for the winter term (topic energy) and the summer term (topic optics).

Item CK energy Mean Item CK optics Mean 1 .38 1 .65 2 1.00 2 .50 3 .38 3 .53 4 .75 4 .71 5 .87 5 .77 6 .67 6 .42 7 .81 7 .29 8 .27 8 .71 9 .94 9 .41 10 .56 10 .62 Sum score 6.56 (10) Sum score 5.50 (10)

Table 3. Values for the mean of the students’ conceptions pre-test for the winter term (topic energy) and the summer term (topic optics).

Item SC energy Mean Item SC optics Mean 1 .68 1 .38 2 .61 2 .73 3 .00 3 .58 4 .53 4 .36 5 .65 5 .10 6 .47 6 .50 7 .16 7 .33 8 .05 8 .55 9 .53 9 .79 10 .44 10 .63 11 .58 11 .63 12 .63 12 .50 13 .06 13 .29 Sum score 5.16 (13) Sum score 5.50 (13)

Discussion und Outlook

With release of the National Standards for teacher education practical training becomes a very important topic in the pre-service teacher education in Germany. The focus on the practical training and the pre-service teacher education lies on the acquisition of professional teaching competence. Besides this the practical training has some important conditions to be effective. There must be much time for preparation and reflection. The situations the pre-service teachers handle with must be very easy, so the pre-service teachers don’t become overcharged. Due to this background it could be shown, that the students’ lab is a very good version of practical training. It fulfils all required conditions for a good practical training, with ten weeks preparation time and a reflection after every performance. So the pre-service teachers have the ability to work with the reflection during the changing of the experimental station or the performance. During the performance the pre-service teachers have to work with only small groups of students and they always perform the same station. The tests to survey the pck and the ck work well with a sum score of 10.15 by a maximum sum score of 20 for the pck and a sum score of 6.56 for the energy and a sum score of 5.50 for the optics with a maximum sum score of 10. The tests for the students’ conceptions are difficult with a sum score of 5.16 for energy and a sum score of 5.50 for optics by a maximum sum score of 13.

Looking at the correlations there seems to be an impact between the pck and the practical training, as well as between the grade in A-level and the pck and the grade in A-level and the students’ conceptions in energy. Another correlation seems to be between the physics-grade in A-level and the pck and the students’ conceptions in optics. All the data have to be handled with care, because the number of participants (35) is still very small. Our aim is to survey 60 pre-service teachers in the students’ lab. The next steps are to analyse the logbook and compare the Page | 63 results of the logbooks to the results of the questionnaire.

References Ball, D., Lubienski, S. et al. (2001). Research on teaching mathematics. V. Richardson (Hg.). Handbook of research on teaching. The unsolved problem of teachers‘ mathematics knowledge 433-456. Borowski, A., Neuhaus, A. et al. (2010). Professionswissen von Lehrkräften in den Naturwissenschaften (ProwiN) – Kurzdarstellung des BMBF-Projekts. Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften 16. 341-349. Baumert, J., Kunter, M., Blum, W. et al. (2010). Teachers‘ mathematica knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and students progress. American Educational Research Journal 47 (1), 133-180. Elsholz, M., Fried, S., Trefzger, T. (2014). Effects of gender and teaching practice in an out-of-school learning lab on academic self-concept of pre-service physics teachers. Teaching/Learning physics. C. Fazio & R.M. Sperandeo Mineo (Eds.). Integrating Research into Practice. Proceedings of the GIREP MPTL Conference 2014, 795-802. Merglera, A.G., Tangena, D. (2003). Using microteaching to enhance teacher efficancy in preservice teachers. Teach Education. 21. (2010). 199-210. Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder - KMK (2004). Standards für die Lehrerbildung: Bildungswissenschaften. Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 16.12.2004. Kröger, J., Neumann, K. et al. (2013). Messung professioneller Kompetenzen im Fach Physik. Inquiry-based-learning – Forschendes Lernen. Bd. 33. 533-535. Kunter, M., Baumert, J. et al (2011). Professionelle Kompetenz von Lehrkräften. Ergebnisse des Forschungsprogramms COACTIV. Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J. et al. (1999). Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge. J. Gess- Newsome & N.G. Lederman (Eds.). Examining pedagogical content knowledge. 95-132. Makrinus, L. (2013). Der Wunsch nach mehr Praxis. Zur Bedeutung von Praxisphasen im Lehramtsstudium. Studien zur Schul- und Bildungsforschung. Riese, J., Kulgemeyer, C., et al. (2015). Modellierung und Messung des Professionswissens in der Lehramtsausbildung Physik. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik. Beiheft 61. 55-79. Shulman, L.S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher 15 (2). 4-14. Thissen-Roe, A., Minstrell, J. et al. (2004). The DIAGNOSER project. Combining assessment and learning. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers 36. 234-240. Tschannen-Moran, M. et al. (1998). Teachers Efficiency – Its Meaning and Measure. Review of Educational Researcher 68 (2). 202-248. Völker, M., Trefzger, T. (2009): Lehr-Lern-Labore zur Stärkung der universitären Lehramtsausbildung. PhyDidB- Beiträge zur DPG-Frühjahrstagung. http://www.phydid.de/index.php/phydid-b/article/view/173/275 (Stand 10/2015). Weinert, F.E. (2001). A concept of competence. A conceptual clarification. D.S. Rychen & L.H. Salganik (Eds.). Defining and selecting key competencies. 45-65. www.diagnoser.com (Stand 13.10.2015).

Affiliation and address information Susan Fried University of Würzburg Germany Department of Physics e-mail: [email protected]

Analysis of Problem Solving Processes in Physics Based on Eye-Movement Data

Eizo Ohno 1, Atsushi Shimojo 2, Michiru Iwata3 1 Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University, Japan 2 Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan 3 Clinical Centre for Child Development, Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University, Japan Page | 64 Abstract Eye-movements of university students while solving basic physics problems are analysed using eye-tracking equipment. The physics problems are selected from the Force Concept Inventory. In this study, the authors tried to investigate the relation between students' problem solving strategies in physics and physiological data from their eye-movement. The experimental procedures are as follows. The problems are displayed on a computer screen, placed in front of the participants, one by one. The participants are asked to read and solve the problem silently, and say the answer aloud when they have solved the problem. His or her eye-movements are recorded while they read, solve, and answer the problem. After the measurement, each participant is interviewed about his or her problem solving strategies. Participants are asked about the kind of difficulties they have had while trying to solve the problem. Three indices are defined to analyse data of eye-movements. By using the indices, the authors evaluate whether the participant had an idea on how to solve the problem, even if it was based on a misconception, or was at a loss while trying to solve the problem. Students’ misunderstanding on the basic concepts of Newtonian mechanics and problem solving strategies are considered using two data: qualitative data from the interview, and physiological data from the eye-movement.

Keywords Visual attention, eye-tracker, fixation, Force Concept Inventory, misconception.

Introduction

There has been a significant amount of research on students’ incorrect reasoning in solving physics problems (McDermott & Redish, 1999). FCI (Force Concept Inventory) is the most commonly used diagnostic test to assess a student’s initial knowledge of Newtonian mechanics (Hestenes et al., 1992). FCI is a helpful tool. There have been a number of studies on analysing and revising FCI questions in order to make FCI more effective assessment (Lasry et al., 2013; Rebello et al., 2004). However, it is difficult to investigate what strategy students are using while they solve FCI questions. We want to take a step further into students’ mind, and look for a way to evaluate the problem solving processes. Visual attention has been studied for over a hundred years. Data of eye-movements provides us with valuable information of visual attention (Duchowski, 2007). The measurement device used for measuring eye-movements is known as an eye-tracker. Several types of eye-trackers are available and applied to educational research. The number of studies based on eye-movement data related to learning has increased significantly in this decade (Lai et al., 2013). Eye-movements measures have been used in science education research (Madsen et al., 2012; Yang et al, 2013; Kekule, 2014; Pęczkowski, 2014; Rosiek et al, 2014). In this study, data of students’ eye movements are analysed. The authors investigated whether the data of eye- movement while solving FCI questions provide useful information for analysing students’ reasoning or not. To be specific, we have analysed two cases; the first case is that the novice had an idea on how to solve the FCI question, even if it was based on a misconception. The second case is that the novice was at a loss what to select. We compared qualitative data (interview afterwards) and physiological data (eye movement) to find out if the eye movement reflected the misconception of the problem solving strategies.

Method

In this study, Tobii T120 Eye tracker is used for eye tracking. This is a table-mounted system. A participant is asked to sit in front of a flat panel display and rest his/her chin on a chin-rest. This reduces the movement of the head. No parts of body are constrained during the measurement. Thus this measurement is non-invasive. By using this chin-rest, we are able to track the eye movement more steadily. The FCI questions used in our study are selected from FCI translated into Japanese. The layout of each question is edited to create more space between the sentences, and figures indicating options are enlarged, so that we know where the participants were actually looking at. The order of options in a question is changed to avoid a line of correct answers with the same number.

Experimental procedure The experimental procedure of this study is as follows. The experiment is about 50 minutes long. The participants are asked to sit in front of a computer screen in a quiet room. The flat panel computer display shows calibration points at the appropriate location and time. After the calibration, the flat panel display shows a blue circle at the upper left corner. The participant is asked to click on the blue circle with a mouse pointer to start the experiment. When the participant clicks the circle, one FCI question appears on the screen and a recording of eye-movement starts. The beginning of the sentence appears on the same spot as the blue circle. This reduces the Page | 65 excess eye movement not related to problem solving. Participants answer his or her choice aloud after they have solved the problem. Then the next blue circle appears on the screen and the next measurement process starts. There is no time limit for solving each question. Participants finish solving six FCI questions in less than 20 minutes. After solving all the questions, the participants are given a structured interview. The interview consists of the following five questions: 1) Why did you choose your answer? 2) Did you have any confusion over terms and illustrations, etc? 3) Was the illustration helpful? 4) Was there any second candidate? 5) If you scale one as easy and five as difficult, how would you rate this question? Participants of this study were 10 university students. All were Japanese. Six out of ten participants were females. The age ranged from 20 to 25. They all majored in humanities and social studies. We considered them as novices to physics because they only studied a subject of general science in high school, and they had not taken any lectures related to physics in university. We had to reject the data from participant #01, #02 and #05 from analysis. The data from these participants were unstable on account of these failures: the measurements for #01 and #02 were done without a chin rest, and calibration process of #05 had some troubles.

Method of analysis Eye-movements in this study are made up of a series of fixations and saccades. Fixations are important eye movements that stabilize the retina over a stationary object of interest. Fixations are characterized by the miniature eye-movements: tremor, drift, and micro-saccades. Figure 1 shows an example of a participant’s eye- movement during solving a FCI question. The circles in Figure 1 are fixation points. The number inside each circle is numbering fixation. Fixation duration of each fixation point is indicated by the size of each circle. “Areas of interest (AOIs)” are shown in colors here, and they are defined for the analysis. Each AOI correlates specific fixation points to a meaningful component of the FCI question. AOIs are not shown on the flat panel display during the measurement.

Figure 2. A fixation point passing the AOI for option 2 three times

Figure 1. Eye-movements during solving a FCI question

Three indices are defined for each AOI in this study. Indices-1 and 3 are temporal scales and Index-2 is a count scale. We use these indices to analyse data obtained by the eye-movement measurements. Index-1 is defined as total fixation duration within an AOI. In other words, Index-1 for an AOI indicates how long a participant gazed the AOI while solving the problem. Index-2 for an AOI indicates how many times a fixation point passed through the AOI. For example, Figure 2 shows that a fixation point passed the AOI for option 2 three times. Therefore Index-2 for option 2 is three in this case. We measured total fixation duration for each passage through an AOI. Index-3 is defined as the longest total fixation duration among them. For example, if total fixation duration of the second passage in Figure 2 is longer than the other two passages, Index-3 for option 2 will measure the total fixation duration of the second passage. When a fixation point passes an AOI repeatedly, Index-1 and 2 will be large. If total fixation duration of every passage is mostly the same in this situation, Index- 3 will not be so large. However, if a particular passage through the AOI has long fixation duration and the other passages have very short periods of time, Index-3 will become larger.

Results

Results of measurements using four FCI questions in Figure 3 were analysed. The number in parentheses in Figure 3 is the question number on the FCI. According to the interviews, many participants had their own ideas when solving Q1(7) and Q2(8). On the other hand, many of the participants were at a loss when they solved Q6(21).

Page | 66 Result of Q1(7) The bar graph in Figure 4 shows values of Index-1 obtained by analysing the eye movement data from Q1(7). There are five options in Q1(7). The height of a bar represents the value of index-1 for each option. In this analysis, we merged AOIs of options 4 and 5 because we couldn’t differentiate fixation points between them. The star marks “*” on Figure 4 represents the chosen answer from each participant. The cross marks “+” represents a second candidate option based on the interview from each participant. Table 1 shows values of Index-2 and 3 for each option of Q1(7). The number in the parentheses in each cell is a value of index-3. For participants, #04, #07, #08, #09 and #10, the bar of maximum value of Index-1 corresponds to each participant's answer as shown in Figure 4. This means that these five participants gazed at what they chose later on longer than the other options. Indices-2 and 3 for their answers have maximum values as shown in Table 1. For the participants #03 and #06, however, maximum values of Indices-1, 2 and 3 did not necessarily indicate the participants' answers. The interview has revealed the following things; as shown in Figure 5, all participants supposed a force to keep a circular motion. The participant #03, who had chosen option 2 in a short time, told that a ball flied to a direction of option 2 due to this force. The other participants supposed a centrifugal force. The term “centrifugal force” in

Figure 3. Four FCI questions selected in this study

Japanese is used in everyday language. For example, a TV news broadcaster uses “centrifugal force” when a train derails on tight curve accidentally. The participants #04, #07, #08 and #09 added these two forces using a triangular force diagram as shown in Figure 5. They had learned a triangular force diagram at high school and remember it. They said that a ball moved along the option 3 or 4 due to the resultant force. The participant #06 said that he/she was at a loss on how to solve this problem. These results suggest that maximum values of three indices correspond to a participant’s answer when he or she has an idea how to solve the question.

Page | 67

Figure 5. Participants’ idea on how to solve the question Q1(7)

Figure 5. Participants’ idea on how to solve the question Q1(7)

Figure 4. Bar graph of Index-1 of the question Q1(7)

Table 1. Values of Indices-2 and 3 for each option of the question Q1(7). Values of Index-3 are described in the parentheses by the millisecond (ms). Participants option 1 option 2 option 3 option 4&5

#03 1 (466) * 4 (683) 3 (883) 4 (333) #04 2 (1083) + 2 (233) * 9 (2148) 6 (1050) #06 5 (716) 3 (349) + 4(533) * 5 (583) #07 3 (216) 3 (450) * 21 (1265) + 8 (383) #08 4 (500) + 5 (1399) 3 (333) * 10 (2714) #09 + 3 (250) 3 (183) 0 * 3 (833) #10 * 3 (949) + 1 (750) 1 (416) 3 (783)

Result of Q2(8) Figure 6 shows the result of the question Q2(8). The participants #04, #06, #07 and #09 choose option 2. The graph of Index-1 shows clearly that the four participants gaze at their answer, option 2, longer than the other options. Table 2 shows values of Indices-2 and 3 for each option of Q2(8). For participant, #04, #06 and #09, maximum values of Indices-2 and 3 corresponded to option 2 as shown in Table 2. For participant #03 and #10, the bar of maximum value of Index-1 did not correspond to their chosen answer. Maximum values of their Indices-2 and 3 also did not correspond to option 2 as shown in Table 2. For participant #08, Indices-1 and 3 show maximum values at option 1. Index-2, however, shows its maximum value for options 2 and 3. The participant #08 said in the interview that option 5 was second candidate. Index 1 of the participant #08 shows its minimum value for the second candidate, option 5.

Figure 6. Bar graph of Index-1 of the question Q2(8)

Table 2. Values of Indices-2 and 3 for each option of the question Q2(8). Values of Index-3 are described in the parentheses by the millisecond (ms).

Participants option 1 option 2 option 3 option 4 option 5

#03 4 (1115) * 14 (649) 9 (583) 3 (1981) + 7 (2031) #04 2 (550) * 9 (1981) 3 (1266) 4 (1232) 2 (916) #06 + 6 (1366) * 6 (1466) 3 (1167) 6 (1049) 2 (683) Page | 68 #07 3 (949) * 12 (732) 6 (799) 6 (1149) 2 (650) #08 * 5 (3481) 6 (1283) 6 (1082) 3 (416) + 1 (450) #09 0 * 10 (1364) 5 (216) 3 (566) 3 (300) #10 2 (1133) 3 (350) 1 (249) 1 (616) * 2 (1149)

The authors found out that the four participants, #04, #06, #07, #09, solved the problem based on a common misconception, from the interview. They explained their problem solving process as follows. A force, its direction from point P to point Q, is always exerted on a hokey puck to keep it moving. They added a force exerted by kicking a hockey puck using a triangular force diagram. They supposed that a hockey puck moved in the direction of option 2 due to the resultant force vector. Participant #08 was at a loss. In the interview, participant #08 revealed that his/her answer (option 1) was based on the imagination of how a soccer ball moves when it is kicked.

Result of Q6(21) The question Q6(21) has a similar situation to Q2(8). Instead of a hockey puck, a rocket is coasting in space at a constant speed. Figure 7 and Table 3 show values of Indices-1, 2 and 3 obtained by analysing the result of Q6(21). For all participants except #10, maximum values of Indices-1, 2 and 3 did not necessarily correspond to each participant's answer. All participants except #10 said in their interviews that the situation involving a rocket engine and motion in space was confusing them. They didn’t have any idea on how to solve the question as in the case of Q2(8). The participant #10 said in the interview that she was not at a loss. The authors couldn't reveal a problem solving strategy of the participant #10 from the interview.

Figure 7. Bar graph of Index-1 of the question Q6(21)

Figure 8. Strongly biased eye-movements Figure 9. An example of unbiased eye-movements

Table 3. Values of Indices-2 and 3 for each option of the question Q6(21). Values of Index-3 are described in the parentheses by the millisecond (ms).

option Participants option 2 option 3 option 4 option 5 1

#03 6 (1666) 12 (766) * 16 (666) +12 (2432) 2 (1133) Page | 69 #04 5 (2431) 5 (1032) 5 (1232) +15 (1948) *16 (1732) #06 6 (567) * 4 (666) + 3 (483) 2 (383) 3 (433) #07 4 (467) 12 (583) 9 (701) + 20 (1649) *13 (949) #08 * 4 (2415) + 6 (1382) 5 (966) 2 (3446) 3 (2214) #09 4 (266) + 4 (616) * 1 (200) 2 (517) 0 #10 1 (417) * 5 (3331) 4 (1066) 1 (1966) 1 (582)

Biased Fixation Points: Result of Q5(14) In the interview about the question Q5(14), the participants #09 and #10 said that they had seen a similar question before. However, they couldn’t recall the details. They only had a vague memory of correct answer. They said that they couldn't decide whether option 3 or 4 were correct, and tried to recall which was correct. Fixation points of participant #09 and #10 gathered intensively in AOIs for options 3 and 4 as shown in Figure 8. Figures 8(a) and (b) represent, respectively, strongly biased eye-movements of participant #09 and #10. Such a strongly biased eye-movements was not shown among other participants (for example: see Figure 9). This result suggests that a participant’s experience and rote memorization might lead to such strongly biased eye- movements.

Conclusions and Discussion

University students’ eye-movements were measured by using an eye-tracker while they solved the FCI questions. The authors conducted a structured interview on each participant after the measurement. Eye-tracking records were analysed by using three indices defined in this study. The interviews provided valuable information of participants’ strategies while solving the FCI questions. The authors analysed students’ eye-tracking records and combined the result with the interview data. Based on the result of analyses, the following two conclusions were suggested. (1) By using the three indices, we can distinguish whether a participant was at a loss when solving a FCI question, or had an idea on how to solve the problem, even if the idea was based on a misconception. Maximum values of the three indices correspond to a participant’s answer when he or she had an idea on how to solve a FCI question. (2) Participant’s eye-movements are influenced by whether he or she has ever seen the FCI question. Even participant’s rote memorization causes strongly biased eye-movements. The layout of each FCI question on a display screen is almost the same as its original one in this study. It is difficult to define AOIs for every options in Q1(7) and Q5(14). It would be better to prepare separated options as in other questions. These modifications may have some effect on participants’ problem solving strategies and eye-movements. This is a subject for future analysis. In this study, there was no time limit for solving each question. The participants spent a couple of minutes or even longer for solving each questions. However, the original FCI is supposed to be finished within 30 minutes. Students are required to solve each question within one minute on average. Participants might change the strategy for problem solving if such a time constraint is placed, and therefore their eye-movements may change. The authors suppose that students majoring in science will show strongly biased eye-movements as shown in Figure 8. They, of course, understand basic concepts and laws required to solve FCI questions. After reading question sentences, they will expect a correct answer and their visual attention moves to a specific option. However, they may get nervous of making some mistakes due to the fact that the problems are related to their specialization, and may pay more attention on solving the problems compared to novices. This may cause to change their eye-movements. Before investigation of differences between specialists and novices, and its’ relation to eye movement characteristics, we need some idea to avoid such possibilities.

References Duchowski, A. (2007). Eye Tracking Methodology, 2nd ed. Springer, London. Hestenes, D., Wells, M. and Swackhamer, G. (1992). Force Concept Inventory, Phys. Teach. 30. 141-158. Kekule, M. (2014). Students’ approaches when dealing with kinematics graphs explored by eye-tracking research method. Proceedings of the Frontiers in Mathematics and Science Education Research Conference, Eastern Mediterranean University, 108-117. Page | 70 Lai, M-L., Tsai, M-J., Yang, F-Y., Hsu, C-Y., Liu, T-C., Lee, S. W-Y., Lee, M-H., Chiou, G-L., Liang, J-C. and Tsai, C-C. (2013). A review of using eye-tracking technology in exploring learning from 2000 to 2012, Educational Research Review. 10, 90-115. Lasry, N., Watkins, J., Mazur, E. and Ibrahim, A. (2013). Response times to conceptual questions, Am. J. Phys. 81, 703-706. Madsen, A. M., Larson, A. M., Loschky, L. C. and Rebello, N. S. (2012). Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems, Phys. Rev. ST. Phys. Educ. Res. 8. 010122-1-13. McDermott, L. C. and Redish, E. F. (1999). Resource Letter: PER-1: Physics Education Research, Am. J. Phys. 67, 755-767. Pęczkowski, P., Błasiak, W., Wcisło, D., Rosiek, R., Stolińska, A., Andrezejewska, M., Sajka, M., Rozek, B., Kazubowski, P. and Pas, M. (2014). Research on strategies applied to solve a physics problem by persons with different degree of experience and different attitudes towards physics eye-tracking investigation. In Cieśla, P. and Michniewska, A. (Eds.), Teaching and Learning Science at all Levels of Education (pp. 99-107). Kraków: Pedagogical University of Kraków. Rebello, N. S. and Zollman, D. A. (2004). The effect of distracters on student performance on the force concept inventory, Am. J. Phys. 72, 116-125. Rosiek, R. and Sajka, M. E. (2014). Neurodidactical approach to research on science education. In Nodzyńska. M., Cieśla, P. and Różowicz, K. (Eds.), New Technologies in Science Education (pp. 7-20). Krakow: Pedagogical University of Krakow. Yang, F-Y., Chang, C-Y., Chien, W-R., Chien, Y-T. and Tseng, Y-H. (2013). Tracking learners’ visual attention during a multimedia presentation in a real classroom, Computers & Education 62, 208-220.

Affiliation and address information Eizo Ohno Faculty of Education Hokkaido University Nishi-7, Kita-11, Kita-ku, 060-0811 Sapporo Japan e-mail: [email protected]

Using a Cognitive Hierarchy to Evaluate Physics Problems and to Reform Physics Curriculum

Raluca Teodorescu , Gerald Feldman Department of Physics, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

Page | 71 Abstract Physics problems in introductory textbooks are usually rated by their level of difficulty (easy or medium or hard). Unfortunately, this is a vague evaluation, and it is unclear what criteria are used to determine the level of difficulty. To address this issue, we have developed a cognitive hierarchy, the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP), which characterizes problems along two principal dimensions – declarative knowledge (information) and procedural knowledge (mental procedures). In this manner, the level of difficulty is linked more appropriately with the particular cognitive processes that are triggered by the problems, and it is possible to identify the declarative and procedural knowledge components that are required to solve them. Thus, problems that naturally involve more complexity on the cognitive scale will be the ones that are considered more difficult, and the classification of these problems in terms of level of difficulty can be rationalized in a sensible way. We also present an outline for a reformed physics curriculum based on a new problem-solving protocol called ACCESS that emphasizes the development of thinking skills, using the TIPP cognitive hierarchy as a guide.

Keywords Introductory physics, problem solving, cognitive hierarchy, taxonomy, expert/novice behavior.

Introduction

Do students need to acquire problem-solving abilities? Most of us would answer this question with a “yes”, and in fact there are quite a number of national reports in the U.S. that explicitly call for developing students’ scientific reasoning skills [1-2]. Does our current system of physics instruction help students learn these problem-solving skills? This is a tougher question. There is much information in the literature about this, including evidence of unsatisfactory problem-solving skills [20] as well as deteriorating student attitudes about science [3]. How can one effectively teach physics problem solving? In general, there are three basic areas that need to be considered: knowledge base, cognitive processes, and attitudes/beliefs. In our presentation here, we focus on the cognitive aspects of the problem-solving issues. Problem solvers can be evaluated along a spectrum ranging from novice skills to expert skills. The characteristics that define these problem solvers are outlined in Table 1 below [4]. It is fairly clear that the novice problem solver has an almost random approach which is very limited in scope and has no pre-planned strategy, does not take the “big picture” into account, and often requires assistance to get back on track when stuck on a problem. This leads to the important question of how do we (as instructors) go about training the students in problem solving and helping them to move from the novice end of the spectrum towards the expert end? Table 1. Comparison of various features that distinguish experts vs. novices in problem solving [4].

Expert Novice Concepts play an important role. Mostly concept independent.

Before starting, performs a qualitative Manipulates equations. No initial analysis and designs a strategy. analysis or strategy is attempted. Variety of methods to get unstuck. Can’t get unstuck without outside help. Thinks about the problem-solving Problem-solving process uses all process while solving the problem. available mental resources. Can solve the problem (or check the Usually has only one method of solving answer) using alternative methods. the problem. Rarely checks the answer. Reflects on problem after solving it. Does not reflect on problem.

In recent years, the Physics Education Research (PER) community has been developing a vast collection of research-inspired problems, some of which are listed below:  Context-rich problems (Heller and Heller [5])  Estimation problems (Redish [13])  Jeopardy problems (Van Heuvelen and Maloney [17])  Ranking tasks (O’Kuma, Maloney and Hieggelke [12]) Page | 72  TIPERS (Hieggelke, Kanim, Maloney and O’Kuma [6])  Univ. of Washington Tutorials (McDermott and Shaffer [11]) In all of these cases, a somewhat unconventional approach is used to pose a problem that does not quite resemble the typical end-of-chapter textbook problems. The motivation is to trigger a variety of cognitive processes that help students enhance both their conceptual understanding and their problem-solving skills.

Framework of the Taxonomy

In the project reported here, our particular objective is to identify the relevant cognitive processes and then use them to characterize physics problems, both PER-inspired problems and regular textbook problems. We propose three research questions to explore this:  Can physics problems be categorized according to cognitive processes and knowledge domains?  What is the relationship between physics problems, knowledge domains and cognitive processes?  Are there cognitive processes that are not activated by existing physics problems? We have developed the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP) which is based on expert/novice and cognitive research as well as modern models of student thinking. This framework enables us to analyse existing text-based and research-based physics problems and to categorize them from the standpoint of contemporary educational requirements. Ultimately, this information can then be used for instructional purposes (i.e. designing curricular materials) or for research purposes (i.e. modelling the problem-solving process itself). Our framework is an adaptation of earlier work by Marzano and Kendall who had published a Taxonomy of Educational Objectives [9]. An overview of this scheme is depicted in Fig. 1 below. Cognitive processes are summarized on the left side, moving up from simpler processes (retrieval, comprehension) towards more complex processes (analysis, knowledge utilization). All of the processes are sub-divided into smaller components, as shown in figure. These cognitive processes operate on “knowledge” which can be divided along two independent dimensions – declarative knowledge (information) and procedural knowledge (mental procedures). To better understand these two dimensions, it is helpful to think of declarative knowledge as the “what” of a problem and procedural knowledge as the “how” of the problem. For a more in-depth discussion, the reader is directed to the article by Teodorescu et al. [14] which provides detailed information about the Marzano taxonomy and shows explicitly how that work was modified to be applicable in the domain of physics problem solving.

Figure 1. Summary of the Marzano taxonomy [9] on which TIPP is based. The cognitive processes on the left operate on the “knowledge” dimensions on the right. The latter constitute two separate and distinct dimensions – declarative knowledge (information) and procedural knowledge (mental procedures).

It is useful to see an application of TIPP to a specific physics problem in order to understand the cognitive dimensions of our framework. In the example depicted in Fig. 2, we show a problem involving an inelastic collision of two carts on an air track. This problem triggers several processes (recalling, integrating, symbolizing) on the Information side, but as you can see, it does not rise very high on the complexity scale. For Mental Procedures, there is only one cognitive process activated (executing). The low levels exemplified by this problem tend to be typical of introductory physics textbooks.

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Figure 2. Evaluation of a sample physics problem in the framework of our Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP). Several cognitive processes contribute on the Information side, the highest (most complex) of which is Symbolizing. For Mental Procedures, there is only the process of Executing.

Applying the Taxonomy

We have used TIPP to examine a wide variety of problems from particular physics textbooks. In Fig. 3, we present just a few representative examples. In the first case, we have categorized the end-of-chapter problems for the introductory textbook by Walker [18] for the topics of Vectors (Chap. 3) and Two-Dimensional Kinematics (Chap. 4). It is immediately obvious that the introductory textbook problems only cover the lowest cognitive levels in the hierarchy. Problems that involve ranking constitute the highest levels achieved in these chapters. In the second case, a graduate-level quantum mechanics book [7] was investigated. The cognitive spectrum is populated to higher levels in this case, with some rather high levels being represented on the Information side. While the Mental Procedures side does not rise up as high, there are more upward excursions than for the introductory physics problems. TIPP has also been used in several research studies. In a project at MIT [15], patterns of student problem- solving behavior for high vs. low achievers in a hybrid (in-class and online) instructional environment were investigated by using TIPP to classify the online physics problems according to difficulty level. The criteria for separating problems into easy, medium and hard categories are outlined in Table 2. In another study, at Michigan State University, expert-novice differences were investigated [19] by using TIPP to sort the physics problems given to the students. In both of these cases, having TIPP as an objective standard against which various problems could be compared proved to be instrumental in categorizing the physics problems that were involved in the studies.

Reforming the Physics Curriculum

In physics classes at George Washington University, we have incorporated TIPP into the classroom by developing a “thinking skills” curriculum aimed at enhancing students’ problem-solving abilities and improving their attitudes towards science. This “training” program has several objectives: (1) to help students build coherent knowledge structures, (2) to develop context-independent problem-solving abilities, (3) to gain confidence in problem solving, and (4) to establish connections between physics concepts and everyday phenomena.

Our approach is broken up into several components which target different aspects of the course:  Objectives related to content  Peer Instruction [10]

 Web-based homework [8]  Objectives related to competencies  ACCESS problem-solving protocol [16]  Classification schemes  Learning progressions  Objectives related to attitudes Page | 74  Allocation of class time to illustrate when/where/how students can use the content and abilities.

Figure 3. Using TIPP for evaluations of textbook problems from two chapters of Walker [18] in the upper two panels and one chapter of a graduate-level quantum mechanics book [7] in the lower panel.

Table 2. The cognitive processes and the knowledge (both declarative and procedural) targeted by different levels of difficulty (easy, medium, or hard) for physics problems in the MIT study [15].

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To facilitate the “training” process, we have developed a problem-solving protocol called ACCESS [16] which follows six directed steps in the solution sequence (see Fig. 4). While our system is built on existing protocols, it includes more specific instructions for each step. Most importantly, the ACCESS protocol was designed such that each component is tied to particular elements of TIPP. With this cognitive framework, we have created a carefully crafted teaching methodology which emphasizes the linkage between the TIPP cognitive levels and the steps of the ACCESS protocol. In this way, we can carry out a “progressive training” of cognitive skills over the first few weeks of the academic semester. Students do not necessarily try to solve physics problems in their entirety until they have finished their “training” with the ACCESS protocol. A sample of the course syllabus is shown in Fig. 5, where it can be seen that the students get practice in using the ACCESS protocol over the first half of the semester.

Figure 4. The six elements of the ACCESS problem-solving protocol [16]. The corresponding TIPP cognitive levels, along with explanations, are outlined in the shaded boxes next to the definitions.

The training regimen is supplemented with two other pedagogical tools – classification schemes and learning progressions [16]. A classification scheme is similar to a concept map, and it enables the students to build local and global coherent knowledge, thus making the activation of their content knowledge easier. By accessing the concepts more readily, the students can focus on more procedure-oriented thinking while they are solving physics problems. An example of a classification scheme for motion problems (kinematics and dynamics) is shown in Fig. 6

For the learning progressions, the intent is to offer problems with a variety of surface features and deep features, and in different contexts (i.e. symbolic vs. numeric, or real-world vs. abstract). In the example depicted in Fig. 7, the surface feature of an inclined plane is mixed together with several deep features, including statics,

dynamics, and energy conservation. One case is presented numerically, but the other cases only have symbols, and one situation is shown graphically. Finally, one case is a real-life scenario of a skier on a ski slope, but the others are more abstract. In the sequence of the learning progression, the deep features increase in complexity but this trend is handled in a gradual manner so that we avoid any single large step that is too substantial for the students to handle. As the students move steadily up the hierarchy, they also are building their confidence in their own problem-solving abilities.

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Figure 5. Typical course syllabus for the 14-week academic semester. The time evolution of the taxonomy levels is shown in the right-hand column.

Figure 6. Classification scheme for one-dimensional motion problems.

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Figure 7. Example of a learning progression for problems involving inclined planes (as a surface feature), with a mixture of deep features including statics, dynamics, and energy conservation.

Summary

We have introduced the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP), which is a hierarchy of cognitive processes that are (or can be) triggered in problem-solving activities. This taxonomy can be used to characterize physics problems in terms of cognitive complexity, providing an objective framework for determining the difficulty level of problems. We have shown that there are potential applications for TIPP in both instructional environments and research projects. We have also outlined a customized “thinking skills” curriculum that incorporates TIPP in the classroom for the purpose of helping students develop their problem-solving abilities. Students are gradually exposed to increasing levels of complexity along the spectrum of TIPP cognitive processes, which not only enhances their skills, but ultimately will help them gain confidence in problem solving and improve their attitudes about science.

References [1] AAAS Project 2061 (1993). Benchmarks for Science Literacy: A Tool for Curriculum Reform, web site http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php. [2] Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (2014). Criteria for Accreditation and Supporting Docs, web site http://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/. [3] Adams, W.K., Perkins, K.K., Podolefsky, N.S., Dubson, M., Finkelstein, N.D. and Wieman, C.E. (2006). A new instrument for measuring student beliefs about physics and learning physics: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, Phys. Rev. Special Topics — Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 010101:1-14. [4] Gerace, W.J. and Beatty, I.D. (2005). Teaching vs. Learning: Changing Perspectives on Problem Solving in Physics Education, Proceedings of the 9th Common Conference of Cyprus/Greek Physics Associations, Nicosia, Cyprus (arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0508131). [5] Heller, K. and Heller, P. (2010). Cooperative Problem Solving in Physics: A User’s Manual (web site https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty/upload/Coop-Problem-Solving-Guide.pdf). [6] Hieggelke, C.J., Kanim, S., Maloney, D.P. and O’Kuma, T.L. (2013). TIPERS: Sensemaking Tasks for Introductory Physics, Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, CA. [7] Lim, Y.-K. (1998). Problems and Solutions on Quantum Mechanics, World Scientific, Singapore. [8] LON-CAPA: Learning Online Network with CAPA (web site http://www.lon-capa.org/). [9] Marzano, R.J. and Kendall, J.S. (2007). The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (2nd edition), Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA. [10] Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. [11] McDermott, L.C. and Shaffer, P.S. (2001). Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, CA. [12] O’Kuma, T.L., Maloney, D.P. and Hieggelke, C.J. (2008). Ranking Task Exercises in Physics, Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, CA. [13] Redish, E.F. (2003). Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, NJ. [14] Teodorescu, R.E., Bennhold, C., Feldman, G. and Medsker, L. (2013). New Approach to Analyzing Physics Problems: A Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems, Phys. Rev. Special Topics — Phys. Educ. Res. 9, 010103:1-20. [15] Teodorescu, R.E., Seaton, D.T., Cardamone, C.N., Rayyan, S., Abbott, J.E., Barrantes, A., Pawl, A. and Pritchard, D.E. (2012). When Students Can Choose Easy, Medium, or Hard Homework Problems, Proceedings of the 2011 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), AIP Conf. Proc. 1413, 81-84. [16] Teodorescu, R.E., Bennhold, C., Feldman, G. and Medsker, L. (2014). Curricular Reforms that Improve Students’ Attitudes and Problem-Solving Performance, Eur. J. Phys. Educ. 5, No. 1, 15-44.

[17] Van Heuvelen, A. and Maloney, D.P. (1999). Playing Physics Jeopardy, Am. J. Phys. 67, 252-256. [18] Walker, J.S. (2004). Physics (2nd edition), Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. [19] Wolf, S.F., Dougherty, D.P. and Kortemeyer, G. (2013). Differentiating Expert and Novice Cognitive Structures, Proc. of the 2012 Physics Education Research Conf. (PERC), AIP Conf. Proc. 1513, 426-429. [20] Yerushalmi, E., Henderson, C., Heller, K., Heller, P. and Kuo, V. (2007). Physics Faculty Beliefs and Values about the Teaching and Learning of Problem Solving: Mapping the Common Core, Phys. Rev. Special Topics — Phys. Educ. Res. 3, 020109:1-31. Page | 78 Affiliation and address information Raluca Teodorescu and Gerald Feldman Department of Physics George Washington University Washington, DC, USA e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Physics Teaching and Learning Reform in Armenian Schools: An Impact Study

Julietta Mirzoyan National Institute of Education of the Ministry of Education and Science, Armenia

Abstract Page | 79 This paper presents an impact study on physics education reform within the first Education Quality and Relevance Project (the first EQRP). It was financed by the World Bank and implemented nationwide in Armenia in 2004-2009. The present work is the latest of evaluation studies on different aspects in physics education reform within the first EQRP, which I conducted over the past ten years. Its aim was to determine the extent to which the objectives of physics education reform were realised in Armenian primary and lower secondary classrooms. The main objective of physics teaching and learning reform was to raise the quality and relevance of physics education through the use of student-centred, active teaching and learning approaches, which should develop students` key competences on the basis of core knowledge of physics and about physics as a special way of knowing, problem-solving skills, attitudes and values. According to the first EQRP documents, 70% of Armenian teachers were expected to use effectively the new instructional approaches in their classrooms by the end of the project in 2009. The developers of the first EQRP planned more than a 10% increase in our student science (physics) performance average score in the Trends International Mathematics and Science study (TIMSS) 2011, compared to their results in the TIMSS 2003, as an indicator of the reform`s success. Unfortunately, the present study revealed a different picture: neither physics classroom learning environment changed as it was envisaged by the EQRP, nor students` physics knowledge and process skills improved over the years of reform. These results were predicted by my previous evaluation studies on physics curriculum and physics teacher professional development reforms within the first EQRP. At present, the implementation of the second EQRP (2009-2015) is coming to an end and the WB`s new Education Improvement Project (2014-2019) represents the next stage of a long-term general education reform in post-Soviet Armenia. The new project states that identifying and developing of the key competences that students should have acquired by the end of each level of education still remains among the main reform objectives (World Bank, 2014). In order not to repeat the shortcomings of the previous education reform projects, the ways of knowledge transfer and borrowing from the West should be reconsidered.

Keywords Primary and lower secondary education, physics education reform, key competences, knowledge transfer and borrowing.

Introduction

This paper presents my last study on physics teaching and learning reform at primary and lower secondary levels of general education implemented within the first EQPR in Armenia in 2004-2009. In two earlier studies I analysed national physics curriculum documents and materials as well as guidelines for nation-wide physics teacher training on new curriculum and teaching and learning methodology which were developed within the first EQRP (Mirzoyan, Mirzoyan, 2008; Mirzoyan, 2012). A special study was devoted to the analysis of the performance of Armenian students in the TIMSS 2007 compared to their performance in the TIMSS 2003 (Mirzoyan, 2011). These works have shown that the aims of physics education reforms were not satisfactorily translated into newly developed physics curriculum and in-service physics teacher training materials. As there always exists cause–and-effect relationship between the quality of curriculum documents and materials for in–service training, which influence teacher preparedness to use them in the classroom from one hand and the classroom activities and student academic achievements from the other, I have predicted that the reforms would hardly result in projected changes in school physics education. They would hardly be effective. This last study on physics education reforms within the first EQRP was intended to test this hypothesis. The study is by its nature an impact evaluation study and was designed to address the following main research question: were the physics education reforms implemented within the first EQRP effective? The most reliable way to get answers to such type of questions is to evaluate directly the outcomes of the reforms against their objectives and settled measurable targets (indicators). Thus, the study investigated the following questions: what were the objectives of the reforms and its targets? What were the outcomes? What were the main findings from other evaluation studies on the first EQRP?

The distinctive feature of my research program was its focus on reforms of a particular school subject – physics, in the frame of the first EQRP. I was not involved in the first EQRP at any of its phases and my research can be regarded as an external evaluation study conducted by a professional in the field of physics didactics. Existing evaluation studies on the first EQRP were dealing with structural or cross-curricular issues (Hovhannesyan, Sahlberg, 2007; Terzian, 2010; Khachatryan, Petrosyan, Terzyan, 2013; Bethell, Harutyunyan, 2015, etc.).

The context of physics education reforms Page | 80 The physics education reform was an integral part of the systemic nationwide general education transformations in the post-Soviet Armenia which began in 1998. There were three main aims of these transformations: 1. to make general education relevant to the new post-Soviet era of our history; 2. To improve its quality so much deteriorated during the first years of independence; 3. To create a new generation of national experts in educational policy and management, curriculum development, assessment and teacher professional development. It was clear from the beginning that the general education transformations would not be easy to realize first of all due to very restricted human, material and financial resources available. Many international donor agencies, foreign governmental and nongovernmental organizations ( UNICEF, OSF, USAID, IREX and others) have been assisting us by providing financial resources, technical support and consultancy since the second half of the 1990s of the past century. The main feature of our reforms is their almost full reliance on knowledge and experience borrowed and imported from abroad. Armenia became the only post- Soviet country that shut down its institute of scientific-pedagogical research at the end of the 1990s. It was believed that external educational experts would provide ready-made knowledge for our reforms and would prepare a new generation of educational experts. The most involved with our reforms in general education sector was and continue to be the World Bank (the WB). Its operation in the Armenian education sector started in 1998 and was marked by the beginning of the systemic, country-wide general education reforms. By now, two consecutive WB`s reform projects were implemented. The third one has been underway since 2014. Within the first two projects - the Education Financing and Management Reform Project (the EFMR, 1998 -2003) and the Education Quality and Relevance Project (the EQRP, 2004 -2014), which was carried out in two phases, the WB`s full package of neo-liberal educational reforms has been implemented in Armenia. These reforms embraced all areas of general education: governance, management and financing; curriculum, instruction, assessment and application of ICT as instructional tools; teacher professional development and training. The projects addressed all levels of general education: primary, lower and upper secondary and partly pre-primary. The main objectives of the EFMP were decentralization of the general education system`s management and introduction of local management school model which is characterized by the following key words and concepts: accountability and managerialism in education; per-student financing scheme; school as a provider of educational services; school boards; election of head-teachers and hiring of teachers on competitive basis by school boards; funds rising activities; school development programs; school-based curriculum development and teacher training; school league table, etc. By 2005, school boards and per–student financing scheme were introduced in all Armenian schools. These reforms became the basis for implementation of a new group of reforms in other areas of general education. The first EQRP (2004 -2009) was the next logical step of transformations in our country`s school education system. Within this project major curriculum, instructional and assessments reforms were implemented. Student- centred education, standards-and - outcomes (competences) - based education, educational areas, cooperative learning, constructivist teaching and learning methodology, ICT as tools for creating new classroom environment, centralized examinations and standardized testing, school-based assessment, ten-point grading system are among the key words of these reforms` vocabulary. During the years of the project implementation transition from a 10-year to a 12-year school has begun. Public mainstream schools now have the following structure: a 4-year primary school followed by a 5-year basic school and a 3-year high school. Grades 1-9 are compulsory for all students. Starting age of schooling became 6, instead of 7. Implementation of these reforms had demanded creation of new institutions. The project financed the establishment of the National Centre for Educational Technologies and the Assessment and Testing Centre. The School Inspectorate as a division of the Ministry of Education and Science (the MOES) was opened. Implementations of all these reforms were accompanied by massive training programs usually carried out through cascade method. As it was noted above, a leading role in our reforms was assigned to international consultants who as a rule were closely involved in a whole cycle of research and development: needs assessment studies and training of national experts; they provided technical assistance in reform documents development,

design of curriculum and staff and teacher training materials; later some of them became authors of evaluation studies on different aspects of reforms. The local scholars in pedagogical sciences had little if any role in these reforms. Above I tried to describe shortly the context in which the physics education reform took place. It was an integral part of very comprehensive and radical transformations of the whole system of general education. No special program on physics education was implemented in those years. Page | 81 Objectives and main targets of physics education reforms

The first EQRP had one project development objective. It was formulated in the project`s English language appraisal document in the following way: “The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve the quality and relevance of the Armenian school system to meet the challenges of the knowledge society. The key indicator will be that 70% of teachers are engaged in activities likely to develop the necessary knowledge and competencies in their students.” (World Bank, 2003, p.10). As physics education reforms constituted an integral part of the first EQRP, their main objective was to improve the quality and relevance of physics education. The key indicator was that by the end of the project in 2009, 70% of Armenian physics teachers would have been engaged in activities likely to develop necessary physics knowledge and competences in their students. It is obvious, that the concept of student competences became one of the most important concepts of the first EQRP appraisal document that is strongly connected to the contemporary understanding of the quality and relevance of general education. Like many other foundational concepts of our reforms, which were introduced by the WB`s reform projects, the concept of students competences was never discussed among country`s educational specialists or within wider public circles before the project`s introduction in 2004. Even now, more than a decade later, the concept of student competence remains unknown to those local experts who have been closely involved in the implementation of the project. Naturally, school teachers are also unaware of it. In October 2013, 2014 and 2015 I conducted 3 small-scale surveys involving 20 participants in each of these years. They were chairs of science subjects methodological associations from Yerevan (the capital city) schools invited to the seminars on different aspects of science education reforms organized by me at the National institute of education. When asked to write down the key concepts of science education reforms, no one mentioned the concept “student competence” or related terms such as scientific literacy, inquiry –based education, teaching and learning in context, etc. This is because the main curriculum documents – the national curriculum framework, the state standard of general education, the state standard of secondary education, subject standards and syllabuses as well as materials for teacher in- service training, developed within the first EQRP, do not contain the concept of student competence. Naturally, all these documents are in Armenian. As the Armenian teachers, including physics teachers, in their work were directed by the above mentioned documents, not by the English language WB`s project appraisal document, it becomes clear why they remained unaware of the main objective of the reform project, i.e. to develop competences in their students understood as interconnected knowledge, skills and attitudes, learnt and assessed through real-life context-based tasks. As it was shown in my previous research on multi-step physics curriculum development process within the first EQRP (from the national curriculum framework through the state standard on general education to physics standards, syllabuses and textbooks), almost all changes proposed at higher levels of curriculum documents disappeared at a level of syllabuses and textbooks. In Armenia, subject standards, were introduced with the aim of replacing subject syllabuses and making school–based curriculum development possible. But this did not take place and currently subject standards exist along with the rigid subject syllabuses, developed within the first EQRP and compulsory for all students. In fact, like in the pre-reform period, they became the only normative documents teachers use in their everyday work. For science subjects they are discipline-centred and present their structures. The main emphasis is placed on the system of knowledge, neglecting almost entirely the need to develop skills and values in students. They require that teachers develop in students a narrow set of skills, connected mainly to numerical problem solving and some experimental skills for doing so-called ready-cooked lab works. Even now, the concept of student competence in general education does not become an issue of research and development either at cross- curricular level or at the level of school subjects in our country. The European framework for key competences for lifelong learning (the European Parliament, 2006) has not been discussed yet. It is interesting to note that the WB`s financed Education Improvement Project (the EIP) - the third consecutive project in general education, which became active in 2014 and will end in 2019, again underlines the necessity of

identifying and developing key competences in school education, as it was done by the previous projects. It is also interesting to add that the Centre for Educational Projects, created in 1998 for management of the WB`s financing educational projects, in its announcement for the contest of international consultants for the EIP demanded that candidates be proficient in competence- based education in order to assist revising all existing curriculum materials to make them competence–based according to the European framework on key competences. This is a very telling fact confirming the absence of competence–based education in our system of general education, despite more than ten years of reforms aiming to transform it through approaches, which Page | 82 should promote competence development in Armenian students. The main indicator of success of the Armenian general education reforms at primary and lower secondary levels within the first EQRP was more than a 10% increase of our grade 4 and 8 students` science average scores in the TIMSS 2011 compared to their scores in the TIMSS 2003. The fourth-grade students who participated in TIMSS 2011 learnt a full course of a new primary school science program within an integrated subject “Me and the surrounding world” taught in the second, third and fourth grades. As to the ninth-grade students, they prior to their participation in the TIMSS 2011, have learnt a new 2-year general science course (physics, chemistry and biology) in grades 5-6, a geography course in grade 6, followed by new physics, chemistry, biology and geography courses taught in the seventh and eighth grades. In primary school, this cohort of students studied science according to the old programs. All science subjects’ teachers were trained to teach the new curriculum. It is well known that TIMSS reports student performance results in overall average scores for science and, additionally, in average scores in science content and cognitive domains. It also reports student achievements at four proficiency levels, called international science benchmarks (low, intermediate, high and advanced). Very useful are data on trends in science achievements. Such types of data from the publication “TIMSS 2011 International Science Results” (Martin, et all, 2012) were used in my research to analyse the impact of physics education reforms on student academic achievements.

Outcomes: students’ academic achievements and classroom activities

Students’ academic achievements Transition to the new science curriculum and teaching and learning methodology at primary level in Armenian schools resulted in worsening of students` achievements in science compared to their achievements in 2003, according to the TIMSS 2011 results. The average score of the fourth-grade students in the TIMSS 2011 was 416 which is by 20 points lower than in the TIMSS 2003 (Figure 1). Of 20 countries participated both in the TIMSS 2003 and 2011, Armenia was the second one after New Zealand with such serious decline in student performance. In the content area “physical science” (physics and chemistry), which is of particular interest for this study, the decrease in average score between 2003 and 2011 was much more - 30 points (Figure 2).

500 500 436 429 450 416 450 399 400 400 350 350 300 2003 300 2003 250 250 200 2011 200 2011 150 150 100 100 50 50 0 0

Figure 1. Science achievement, 4th grade. Figure 2. Physical science achievement, 4th grade.

42% of the fourth-grade students, almost half of the students in this grade, in 2011 did not reach the international low benchmark, which exceed the same indicator in 2003 assessments by 8%. Only 26% of the fourth-graders performed at and above the International intermediate benchmark in 2011. In 2003 this indicator was higher – 38%. A very small fraction of students – only 6%, was able to perform at and above the International high benchmark in 2011. As to the achievements in cognitive domains, there is a 10-point difference between “knowing” and “reasoning”; the difference between “knowing” and “applying” was not significant. It was not possible to trace trends in this domain from 2003 because in the TIMSS 2003 it was not assessed. Instead of planned more than 10% improvement of the fourth grade students` science achievement in TIMSS 2011, we received almost 5% decrease in science and 7% decrease in physical science domain. Thus, it can be

concluded that science education reforms, especially in physical science domain, at the primary level of general education implemented in 2004 – 2009 were ineffective. At the eighth grade between 2003 and 2011 our students` academic achievements in science and, in particular, in physics also declined. The overall science average score in the TIMSS 2011 was 437, which is 24 points less than in 2003 (Figure 3). In the “physics” content domain the difference between 2003 and 2011 TIMSS assessments for this grade was much more - 38 points (Figure 4). Page | 83

461 479 500 437 500 441 450 450 400 400 350 350 300 2003 300 2003 250 250 200 2011 200 2011 150 150 100 100 50 50 0 0

Figure 3. Science achievement, 8th grade. Figure 4. Physics achievement, 8th grade.

More students in 2011 than in 2003 did not reach the international low benchmark of science achievement. The difference is 11%. The country had 8% decline in proportion of student reaching the International intermediate benchmark. In 2011 only 12% of our students performed at the International high benchmark in science, 2% less than in 2003. In the cognitive domain the situation in 2011 was characterized by the following data: a 36-point difference between “knowing” and “applying” and a 45–point difference between “knowing” and “reasoning” average scores. Of 22 TIMSS 2011 countries, participated in science assessment at the eighth grade, these data for Armenia were the highest. It tells us that too little attention was paid to practical and cognitive skills and abilities in general science and separate science subjects’ textbooks in Armenia. It also tells about a particular style of instruction and assessment in our classrooms which promotes route learning, memorization and reproduction of isolated science facts, definitions and formulas, instead of supporting meaningful learning and conceptual understanding in students. Like at the primary level, science education reforms at the lower secondary level were also ineffective. Projected by the first EQRP more than a 10% improvement in students` academic achievements between 2003 and 2011, measured by TIMSS, was not met. The overall average science score, physics average score and all other major achievement indicators for Armenia in the TIMSS 2011 were considerably lower than in the TIMSS 2003. In physics, students average score declined by 8% between 2011 and 2003. The TIMSS data are the only available in our country for evaluation of the impact of school science/physics teaching and learning reforms on student’s science academic achievement in the grades 4 and 8. The Assessment and Testing Centre, one of the main functions of which is to monitor the country`s general education system performance through national large-scale studies of student achievement, has not produced any data in this area since its establishment in 2006. In 2011 it conducted a national survey of students’ academic achievement in physics and chemistry but the results of this survey were not published.

Classroom activities In the TIMSS 2011 International science report a special section is devoted to classroom resources and activities for teaching science. The vast volume of quantitative data on classroom activities is provided. If reliable, these quantitative data on classroom activities could be used for evaluating the impact of reforms on classroom instruction. Unfortunately, in some cases it is difficult to trust them. Such types of data TIMSS collects by means of questionnaires completed by teachers and their students. The main shortcoming of data collection through questionnaires in studying instructional practice in school, especially at its lower levels, is their possible incorrectness linked to teacher inability to reflect realistically on their own teaching and learning practice due to the limited knowledge and understanding of contemporary approaches to instruction. Besides, teachers sometimes when completing the questionnaire may indicate not what they really do in the classroom but what they are required to do. One example of obviously wrong data provided by Armenian teachers is given below.

In 2011, according to teachers’ reports to the TIMSS 2011 questionnaire, at the eighth grade science lessons computers were available to 48% of Armenian students. At least monthly, 44% of students used them to look up ideas and information, 34% to do scientific procedures or experiments, 29% to study phenomena through simulation, 39% to process and analyse data, 43% to practice skills and procedures. These figures are quite suspicious – they are too high, especially when compared to the same set of data for developed countries participated in the TIMSS 2011. In Japan, for example, only 15% of the eighth grade students used computers in science classes to look up ideas and information, 2% to do scientific procedures or experiments, 18% to study Page | 84 phenomena through simulation, 8% to process and analyse data and 4% to practice skills and procedures. The same is also true for other data sets from the same section: teachers emphasize science investigations, resources teachers use for teaching science, classroom assessment. This state of affairs is not observed only for Armenia. It seems common also for some other developing countries participating in TIMSS assessments. In this study in order to judge about the impact of physics education reforms on classroom activities, I used the findings from monitoring studies conducted by the National Institute of Education in Armenian secondary schools from October 2014 to March 2015 (Ministry of Education and Science, 2015). The data for analysis was obtained by observations in classrooms, interviews with teachers and school headmasters and study of lessons plans. Even after more than five years of the end of the first EQRP and despite new measures undertaken within the second EQRP (2009 -2015) to change the instructional practice in Armenian schools, the studies on physics and other science subjects instruction have shown that teachers continue to use mainly traditional methods of instruction, focusing on transmition of knowledge to students. Use of active methods of instruction is of rare occurrence. Approaches of inquiry-based instruction are almost absent. The possibilities of ICT as instructional tools are not used sufficiently. From these findings it can be concluded that the proposed hypothesis about ineffectiveness of physics education reforms within the first EQRP is confirmed also on the part of their impact on classroom activities. It is obvious, that even now we are very far from having 70% of our physics teachers to work using new modern approaches in their classrooms. This conclusion is in accordance with the assessment of the present state of general education in the country has been recently given by the MOES in its report to UNESCO. Bellow an extract from the summary part of the report is presented:  Teachers do not master modern teaching methods and technologies, the efficiency of teacher in-service and pre-service training is low, the system for the teachers' professional development is not effective;  School curricula remains heavily knowledge-based, encouraging memorization, repetition and the routine learning of facts rather than higher-level thinking skills such as understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, creativity and problem solving. School graduates have insufficient practical skills and abilities necessary for future life and professional education;  The access to and use of modern information and communication technologies in educational processes are insufficient, there is a lack of e-learning materials. (Education for All 2015 National Review Report: Armenia, 2014, p. 23)

Conclusion

Almost two decades Armenia has been transforming its system of general education. By now, the results of these reforms, including physics education reforms, are faraway from being positive. Over this period of time a lot of money, including tens of millions of credit dollars from the WB, was spent. It was not difficult to establish new institutions and introduce structural changes into general education system. But when it came to “process” issues such as curriculum, instruction and assessment, introduction of ICT into teaching and learning, re-training of thousands of teachers and creation of a new generation of professionals in education policy, research and development, it all turned out to be much more difficult, than the designers of the reform projects had been supposing. We need to change the main reform strategy based on assumption that somewhere in the world there is ready-made knowledge which could be “copied” and “pasted” into Armenian educational environment with assistance of international consultants. This way of doing reforms did not become the cheapest and easiest one as it was supposed by the authors of our general education reforms. If we are to be only consumers of the knowledge produced faraway from our boarders, and not to be involved in their production, we will not have a chance to introduce effectively very much needed changes into the system of general education, including physics education.

References Bethell, George S.; Harutyunyan, Karine. 2015. The development of the student assessment system in Republic of Armenia: achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) student assessment working paper; no.13. Washington, DC.: World Bank

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/09/25002408/development-student-assessment-system-republic-armenia- achievements-challenges-lessons-learned Education for All 2015 National Review Report: Armenia. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002299/229906E.pdf Hovhannisyan, A., Sahlberg, P. (2008). Cooperative learning in Armenia: Issues and challenges in raising the quality of teaching. www.iaie.org/download/turin_paper_hovhannisyan.pdf Page | 85 Khachatryan, S., Petrosyan, S., Terzyan, G. (2013). Assessment of teacher professional development and educational content in the context of general education reforms in Armenia. Barev Scentific Educational NGO. http://www.osf.am/wp- content/uploads/2014/03/FinalENGAssessmentPDEC.pdf Martin, M.O., Mullis, I.V.S., Gonzalez, E.J., & Chrostowski, S.J. (2012). TIMSS 2011 international science report: Findings from IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the fourth and eighth grades. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College. www.timss.org Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia. (2015). Bulletin, #4. National Institute of Education. (in Armenian). Mirzoyan, J., Mirzoyan, L. (2008). Constructivism and school physics curriculum reform in Armenia. Proceedings of the GIREP International Conference on Physics Curriculum Design, Development and Validation. Mirzoyan, J. (2011). Armenian student performance in science: results from TIMSS. Proceedings of the GIREP –EPEC conference 2011, Physics alive, 254 -259. Mirzoyan, J.(2012). Recent professional development programs for practicing physics teachers in Armenia: Are they in line with international trends? Proceedings of the World Conference on Physics Education 2012, 1115-1124. http://www.wcpe2012.org/WCPE_2012_proceeding_book/WCPE%202012%20-%20front%20matter%20(pp.%20i-xxiv).pdf Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning (2006/962/EC) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:394:0010:0018:EN:PDF Terzian, S. M., (2010). Curriculum reform in post-Soviet Armenia: balancing local and global contexts in Armenian secondary schools. Dissertations. Paper 107. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/107 World Bank. 2003. Armenia - Education Quality and Relevance Project. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/12/2847550/armenia-education-quality-relevance-project World Bank. 2014. Armenia - Education Improvement Project. Washington, DC; World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/02/19127891/armenia-education-improvement-project

Affiliation and address information Julietta Mirzoyan National Institute of Education of the Ministry of Education and Science Science Education Research Department Tigran Mets, 67 0005 Yerevan Armenia e-mail: [email protected]

Seemingly Unique Devices – How to Use “Nonsenses” in Physics Teaching

Vera Koudelkova Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract Page | 86 Activity presented in this paper focuses on using commonly available texts for critical discussion and application of physics knowledge in “normal life”. As a “text” we use official websites of technical devices whose principle seems to be strange and controversial. There are some examples of particular devices briefly described in the paper. Second part of the paper focuses on examples of concrete tasks and activities based on these devices in physics teaching and on experience with using these activities with secondary school students and with Czech teachers too.

Keywords Critical thinking, secondary school, solving problems, critical discussion.

Introduction

One goal of educational system is to improve students´ ability for critical thinking in their normal life, not only in school education. The activity presented in this contribution focuses on improving secondary school students´ critical thinking, improving their ability to “sort” (i.e. critically evaluate) information not only from the Internet but also from other media. Our second goal is to improve students´ ability to work with technical text, to find concrete information in the text, solve problem based on a piece of text, etc. As the text we use advertising information about commercial technical devices the principles of which seems very unique. Devices we choose have their principle described on official webpages in some detail, so we can use only original texts. Moreover, principles of devices we use are mostly “physical” – we do not include medical or biological devices. In the first part of the following text there are examples of some “strange” devices and their principles, some arguments related to the meaningfulness of these physical principles are included too. The second part is focused on examples of activities and tasks based on these devices and on experience we have with these activities.

Examples of devices

Pet Protector Pet Protector is a disc with 2.5 cm radius. It should, according to information from producer, protect all pets from ticks and fleas. Website (“Pet protector” (n.d)) says that the disc generates “scalar waves” thanks to dog´s movement in Earth magnetic field. The explicit quote from (“Pet Protector” (n.d)) is probably the best way to show the character of explanation they provide: “It is charged with a specific combination of Magnetic and Scalar waves, which after being triggered by the animal’s movement (blood circulation), produce an invisible energy field around the entire animal’s body. Pet Protector’s Scalar waves are totally harmless to people and animals (they go absolutely undetected by humans and animals alike) and they are only effective against external parasites, repelling them from the shielded area.” According to discussion with Czech distributor of this device, “scalar waves” are eddy currents around the disc. Could it work? Let´s assume that the pet will rotate in Earth magnetic field (if it will not rotate, there will be almost no induced current thanks to the fact that Earth magnetic field is almost homogenous). Then we can calculate induced current in the disk – the estimated value is about 2.5 mA. However, we are not sure, what “eddy currents around the disk” means and how to imagine “invisible energy field”. But, the direction of induced current is, according to Lenz´s law, such that it will oppose the change which produced it. So should it mean that ticks and fleas are repelled from places with lower magnetic field? We can ask some other questions about the physical principle of the disc. For example:  What about when the dog is sleeping and it isn´t running around?  Why does it take from 7 to 20 days for protective field to form?

Nucleostop Nucleostop is a filter for electric sockets which is supposed to stop electric current from nuclear power stations. It recognizes “signature of tachyon energy” which is, according to official website (“Nucleostop”, (n.d)), created during fission reaction. Again, explicit quotation speaks for itself: “Besides commonly known process, during fission reaction tachyon energy is created too. This tachyon energy is (equally to other types of energy) changed to electric current and therefore it is not possible to recognize it from other energy. This tachyon energy gives to all forms of energy which were created during fission reaction strange (in accordance with law of conservation Page | 87 of energy) indelible signature. This means that electric current created during nuclear decay has this tachyon signature too.” (translated from “Nucleostop”, (n.d)). Could it work? We can find several arguments against meaningfulness of this device:  Electrons are indistinguishable; “tachyon signature” is not proved by science.  In all nuclear power stations only heat is created by fission reaction. This heat is used to raise steam in a separated circuit; the steam runs through turbines which power an electrical generator. So, particles which are made during fission reaction are not transformed to electric current.  There are electric transformers between nuclear power station and the consumer. In these transformers electric lines are physically separated.  There is alternating current in electric lines. So, electrons change the direction of their movement many times per second. However, this device surely works. The producer says, that: “Compact practical device, in which modern High- Tech is used, simply enables you not to be exposed to atomic current.” (translated from “Nucleostop”, (n.d)), which is surely truth. (Indeed, we are not exposed to “atomic currents” from our electric sockets, having there Nucleostop or not.) Note: This device does not really exist. Website “Nucleostop” (n.d.) was made by German Udo Rampf as a reaction to anti-nuclear demonstrations mainly in Austria. However, though this device is only imaginary, it has all we need for using it in our activities and it fits the whole group of “unique” devices.

Vortex Power “Water vitalizer” Vortex Power Pro is an extension for water tap in which water is said to spin with speed of more than 1000 km/h. This is, according to the website “VortexPower” (n.d.), equivalent to few kilometres of mountain stream. Water is then softer, healthier and it has very good taste.

Figure 1. The Vortex Power extension Could it work? As basic information we can use the information about the speed of water. When we estimate size of the extension (see figure 1), we can calculate for example kinetic energy water has in this extension, centrifugal force or acceleration. For example, if we estimate the inertial diameter as 2 cm, the centrifugal acceleration is nearly 800 000 g. The kinetic energy of 10 grams of water is about 400 J. That is for example energy of 40 kg weight which falls from the 1 m height. So, filling a glass of water can damage the glass or the sink. Natural question could be where the water takes this energy (if we still suppose conservation of energy).

How to use these devices in the classroom

The texts and other materials describing devices mentioned above can be used in various classroom activities:  Students in groups discuss if the device could work or if it is nonsense and try to find arguments which support their opinion.  Students solve quantitative tasks concerning the device. They discuss meaningfulness of the device on Page | 88 the base of their results.  After discussion about examples of existing doubtful devices students could design their own – they could prepare advertisement, web page etc.  One can announce competition “For the best argument” against the device.  Teacher could mix these doubtful devices with one which is real and meaningful. Students then should find which one is possible.  etc. First two activities were used with high school students. The device which fits the topic of lecture was chosen, so the Vortex Power was used in the first year class after the lessons about energy, the Pet Protector was used in the second year class during the topic about electromagnetic induction and the Nucleostop was used in the third year class after lessons concerning nuclear physics. Students had worksheets with a few questions and were supposed to discuss if the device was real and try to find arguments. In the first year class they were ask to calculate centrifugal acceleration and kinetic energy and make a comparison from which it would be clear if the device is meaningful or not. The length of the activity was 45 minutes including closing summary. After the activity students answered two questions: 1) Was the lecture useful for you? 2) Did you find something new for you?

Figure 2. Results of feedback about the activity

Results of students´ answers can be seen in figure 2, but particular examples of answers probably can say more:  “I found that deceptive advertising is omnipresent and we should beware of it. Nonsense (although it looks scientific) is still only nonsense.”  “It was shown that we should think about the purpose of the device and if it could work; not only blindly believe all that is written.”  “We realized which quantitative values are real and which are silly.”  “Not all is true even if it is written using almost incomprehensible science terms. Sometimes it is sufficient to translate it to “normal language” and we immediately recognize that it is nonsense.”  “They promote a product with so much information and technical terms that it makes no sense. People are often hoodwinked by similar things, because it is written so technically that it seems to be brilliant.”  “We had to think something up, it was great. I would like to have this program more often.”  etc. We used materials describing these devices also in workshops during Czech teachers´ conferences. Teachers work in five groups, each group has information about one of the devices. For these workshops we used three devices presented here and two more: Energy saver which (according to producer) can save up to 75% of electric

energy and Aquastop which can dry up building because, according to official web site, it can change direction of water capillarity. The task for teachers was the same we use with students: Discuss if the device you have is real or not and find some arguments which support your opinion. After about 20 minutes groups changed materials so they can familiarize with all five devices we had. During closing summary and common discussion they should suggest if and how it could be possible to use these devices during lessons. Few examples of activities we presented in the beginning of this section of the paper are from these discussions. Teachers were asked which one of the devices Page | 89 is not real. Although the Nucleostop is known in Czech teachers´ community, no one marked it as it is imaginary. Reactions of teachers are mostly that these devices could be very useful in physics classrooms. However, some of the teachers said, that it is depressive that someone could sell these nonsenses and people buy it.

Conclusion

Three devices whose principles seem to be doubtful were described. A few activities how it is possible to use them with high school students were presented too. If you are interested in more detailed information or worksheets, please contact me. If you try some of described activities, I will be glad to share your experiences. And, I will be glad if you send me some other examples of “suspicious devices”.

References Nucleostop, (n.d.). Nucleostop Technik. Retrieved October 28, 2015, from: http://www.nucleostop.de/Technik/technik.html Pet protector, (n.d.). Pet Protector, natural flea control. Retrieved October 28, 2015, from: http://www.petprotector.org/WhatIsPetProtector Vortex Power, (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from: http://www.ozivovacvody.cz/ (it is accessible in German or Italy at http://vortexpower.ch)

Affiliation and address information Vera Koudelkova Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Department of Physics Education Charles University in Prague V Holesovickach 2 180 00 Prague 8 Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

Improving of Students’ DIY Skills by an Example of Key Competences Development at Science Centres in Ukraine

Nataliya Kazachkova¹ , Iryna Salnyk² , Pavlo Mykytenko³ ¹Scientific Physics and Technology Centre SPTC, MSE of Ukraine ²Kirovograd State Pedagogical University, Kirovograd, Ukraine Page | 90 ³Dragomanov National Pedagogical University, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract In recent years, in spite of numerous PhD and Doctoral theses on physics education in Ukraine, physics is keeping on the one of the less popular classes at schools. There are variety of reasons for that fact (some of them have been mentioned at the paper). Obviously, the main ways of the problems solution should be searched in the system of Ukrainian Physics Education, which has to be totally rebuilt. However to overcome some difficult points we propose informal teaching techniques which are not contrary to the existing official physics teaching strategy, but can be considered as an effective supplementation to traditional methods and forms of physics teaching. So this contribution is dedicated to the good practice examples of informal extracurricular physics trainings for the secondary school students aged from 10 to 16. To improve their knowledge and DIY (do it yourself) skills extracurricular physics trainings have been worked out at the Scientific Physics and Technology Centre SPTC, MSE of Ukraine which is situated at the premises of Karazin Kharkiv National University at the Department of Physics and Technology. Similar informal educational institutes, existing in some countries of western Europe [8], have been organised in Kirovograd and Kiev.

Keywords DIY activities, extracurricular physics, secondary school physics, physics experiments, research projects.

Introduction

It is well known that Physics is an experimental science, that’s why physics experiments are an essential part for a formal and an informal physics teaching system. Material resources and experimental content of physics teaching process should be permanently developed and renovated. However during last decades bringing up to use modern computer technologies, an application of up-to-date computer programmes, modelling of physical processes by means of computer from one hand and lack of financial support for Ukrainian science education from the other hand led to the removal of real physics experiments from the lessons at the 81% of Ukrainian schools [6]. In European and American pedagogical research secondary school students’ views about Physics as a school subject have been a well-known issue over the last ten years [2], [3], [9], [11], [12], [14]. However it is not the same in Ukraine. According to the National Doctrine of Education Development (2002) [16] and a National Secondary School Curriculum [18] Physics lessons had been seriously reduced to the very minimum of one-two hours a week, in the whole 3-year cycle since 2005. It became a reason of serious problems in physics teaching and learning [7], [10], [17], some of them are as follows: A discrepancy of the State Physics Secondary School Programme, which determines Student Content Knowledge and a physics teachers’ possibility to reach the requirements due to a reduction of physics lessons quantity. The next one is a lack of experimental and theoretical methodical strategy for Ukrainian physics teachers. There are few modern pedagogical textbooks (in native language) explaining to physics teachers how to teach the students innovatively. Lots of young inexperienced pedagogues are just “afraid of” modern teaching equipments and prefer to use only computers and internet facilities to show physics phenomena and experiments (the problem had also been mentioned in some article of Western Europe) [3], [8], [15]. As a result most of their students prefer doing laboratory works with the help of computers. Moreover our young generation can do everything by means of “computer mouse” but they are absolutely disable with real experimental set-ups. So neither teachers nor students have got enough time for formation and improving their experimental skills at the lessons. According to the research conducted in Kharkiv Region, Lugansk and Sumy 84% of the secondary school physics teachers there have never seen and used modern teaching equipment in their teaching practice [6]. The third serious problem is the secondary school students’ passivity to the extracurricular physics research projects and physics in general. The results of the final physics tests (data given by Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kirovograd State Pedagogical University and Dragomanov National Pedagogical University in Kyiv) have been showing the serious reduction of students’ knowledge for last ten years [10], [17].

According to the results of questionnaires carried out among 345 physics teachers in three Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kirovograd), some problems of using typical physics school equipment at the lessons have been mentioned [10]. They are the following: the serious lack of the classroom’s equipments at the 81% of Ukrainian schools; the slow pace of devices renewal (72% of teachers); the new quality learning materials are very expensive for lots of state schools (32% of teachers); the lack of didactic support for the new classrooms equipments especially for the young physics teachers (68% of teachers). Page | 91 The grave disadvantage of our teaching system was also a few attention paid on forming the basis of physics experimentation at the primary and secondary school subjects (such as Science or Nature in Ukraine). Therefore the help of extracurricular physics trainings with informal teaching techniques is supposed to be a very actual and useful nowadays in Ukraine. During such trainings, pupils and secondary school students have the opportunity to obtain an insight into scientific method of investigation, to conduct their own projects and to demonstrate their research works at the different local and international conferences.

Educational Centres of informal physics teaching for the primary and secondary school students

Besides science museums, field trips, science shows a new type of informal learning facilities have been established throughout Ukraine: extracurricular science centres for primary and secondary school students. In those institutes, school students usually participate in one-day physics trainings, which are more formal and educative than visits to science museums or science exhibitions, but which are still informal in comparison to school physics lessons. There selected primary and secondary school students have regular (once a week, usually on Saturday or Sunday) short theoretical lectures (45 or 60 min), accompanied by practical training (90 min) under the guidance of university students and university teachers.

A method of students selection for the extracurricular trainings

SPTC has agreements with 23 secondary schools and lyceums where we regularly demonstrate eight Theme Physics Shows, connected with a content of Official School Physics Curricular. Outreach Paradox shows at the secondary schools are organized during first part of June (summer holiday in Ukraine) and in September. We invite students with teachers to take part at them. Elaborated by our staff they are exciting interactive presentations of physics phenomena in the format of interactive competitions (quizzes) among small groups (5- 7) of students.

Figure 1. First acquaintance with Paradox Show Figure 2. Karaoke on oscillograph

All visitors (usually not more than 30 persons) are divided into small teams. Each team has got its own number and four coloured plastic pointers (red, green blue and yellow). The lecturers (who are usually university students or teachers) demonstrate an experiment or a physics toy developed and created at the SPTC to the audience. The demonstrations are accompanied by music (to increase the emotional influence). After the demonstration the competing teams are offered a question with four options of answers. The participants discuss the options in their teams and select the answer which they believe is correct by raising the pointer with an appropriate colour (see figures 4,5 and 6). For each correct answer the team gets a point. If one of the team members provides a brief explanation of the demonstrated phenomenon the team gets two points more. The team which gets the highest score becomes the winner.

The duration of the Show is 45 minutes for the primary school students and 60 minutes for the secondary school students. During those interactive lectures in interactive format, the members of the teams are involved in hands- on activities. Using the instructions on the screen they create their own exhibits using recycled materials or household objects. For example a mouth organ from drinking straws or a rocket from a plastic bottle

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Figure 4, 5. The toy with gyroscope inside made by students Figure 6. Experiment explanation

Figure 7. A flute made of drinking straws Figure 8. The rocket from a plastic bottle

The best hands-on devices are often presented to the teachers and can be used at the lessons. After such kind of Shows the lecturer can easily choose the children, who demonstrated the interest in physics and the ability to constructivism. We invite them to the Centre and continue their education in extracurricular time.

Three stages of experimental skills development

A lot of psychological and pedagogical researches in Ukraine and in Europe pay attention to such categories as motivation, an interest to the subject, creative thinking, using of visual methods, which can not be effectively realized in teaching process by using only traditional forms and lessons [2], [4], [5]. Cognitive interest can be determined as an emotional and cognitive attitude towards the subject. It is motivated itself and has a tendency towards growing to a cognitive orientation of the personality. But interest not always causes an active learning and hands-on activities. There are few phases of evolution from its first stage – mere curiosity to the second stage – inquisitiveness (or intellectual curiosity) and after that to the stage of developed cognitive interest and ability to become acquainted with real research work or so called professional interest in physics [13], [15]. Our method of DIY skills development is closely connected with the cognitive interest evolution. It can be presented on the scheme below (see Fig. 9)

According to the proposed scheme there are considered three stages of experimental skills development. The first stage is for the selected primary school pupils (aged 7-10). It usually takes 2-3 years. Each year before the training we give the pupils simple tests to estimate their initial knowledge in science and mental capabilities because the children are from different schools. It consists of 20 questions which help to estimate their knowledge in science. Then we elaborate an appropriate theoretical course for them. We usually present 13 interactive physics lectures, which considered as first steps in Physics: Wonderful Mechanic, Travelling with Gravity, Travelling in Sound Land, Physics in the Kitchen, Light and Colours, Paradoxes of Magnetic Field, Wonders of Electricity etc. They have been elaborated by the university teachers and adapted to the primary school knowledge content to be understandable for the kids of that age range. At the beginning visitors became acquainted with simple physics principles and laws (once a week from October to January). After 4 months of theoretical trainings they choose the topic and prepare their own simple research projects under the leaderships

of university students. They usually report about their first “scientific results” at annual University Conference “Junior Scientific Start-Up” in May. At the first stage they usually do simple experiments which are demonstrated and explained to the audience at the Conferences.

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Figure 9. A scheme of DIY skills development.

Figure 10. First DIY experiments Sound Waves Model. Figure 11. Heron fountain from bottles.

To evaluate our actions at the end of the school year we propose the questionnaires to our participants. Children are asked for their opinion about theoretical and experimental trainings, if their marks at school are better or not, if they want to visit the Centre next year, etc. The results of three groups (total number of pupils 18+15+20 = 53) answers (2013-2014) can be seen below:

Do you think the experiments shown at our lectures are interesting?  YES 84% Page | 94  NO, it’s more interesting to look at them on You Tube 16%  NO 0% Have your attitude to science changed after our trainings?  YES, changed for better 48%  NO, it hasn’t been changed, I liked science before the course 33%  YES, changed for worse 9% Do you want to make some of the experiments at home?  YES, I do 44%  NO, I am not sure of my abilities to do them myself 31%  It’s difficult to answer 25% Do you think our trainings help you to understand science at school?  YES, I do 72%  NO, I don’t think so 4%  It’s difficult to answer 24% Do you think that knowledge of science at our training will be helpful in your future life?  YES, I do 51%  NO, I don’t think so 8%  I don’t know, yet 41% Do you want to participate at Centre’s activities next year?  YES, I do 63%  NO, I am interested only in Paradox Show 22%  It depends on my parents 15%

The second stage is for students from 11 to 13 (who have been selected by method mentioned above) and takes 2 years. They are also involved in regular extracurricular (once a week on Saturdays) short theoretical lectures (45 min) and more serious practical training (90 min). During such training students are taught to operate with simple tools like handsaw, boring mill, perforator, vernier callipers, testers and so on. They design and produce non-typical devices, which can be used at the lessons. They work under the leadership of university research engineers from the Department of Physics and Technology. Such kind of practical trainings gain them a lot and their experimental skills are seriously improved by doing experimental projects using recycled materials or simple household objects.

Figures 12, 13. Experimental training with real more complicated equipments.

To evaluate the students’ experimental skills development you can compare the hands-on device called “Heron fountain” which had been made by the same student firstly at the age of 11 and then it was designed and constructed in the SPTC two years later (can be seen at Fig.14 and Fig.15). It is obvious that a design, an appearance, a configuration and a construction of the exhibit have been coordinally improved. To produce the

device students should have experience in operating with the following tooling: a saw, a boring machine, a drill, pliers, a broach file. Apparently they should also have certain of the engeineering skills which have been formed during our experimental trainings.

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Figure 14. Heron Fountain at the first stage. Figure 15. Heron Fountain two years later.

At the third stage of research skills development theoretical lectures are closely connected with the final physics tests and school curricular content. The students’ age range is from 14 to 17 (until the end of the secondary school). A special attention is paid to the “Physics course with English” (one hour a week). There are some sources for experimental tasks for the students’ projects: You-Tube, physics text-books, Young Physics Tournament Problems and others which can be chosen for the research at the end of summer holiday. The duration of students’ projects is one or two years. Students have got individual experimental trainings sometimes with several research engineers. During that stage teenagers pass the steps similar to university diploma preparation: literature analysis, research tasks formulation, choosing materials and devices, creation the set-up and so on. As an example we describe the research project which have been done in 2014-2015 academic year. One of the IYPT-2015 problem has been chosen: “Form a soap film on a flat frame. Place the film in an electric field parallel to the film surface and pass an electric current through the film. The film starts rotating in its plane”. At the beginning the problem seemed to them as not very complicated. However the first experimental setup was absolutely unsuccessful. In spite of many attempts there were no circulations on the surface of the soap film observed.

Figure 16. First difficulties during the research. Figure 17. Unsuccessful experimental set-up.

After literature analysis [1] it became obvious that the voltage of external power supply should be much higher and the frame dimensions should be seriously decreased. At first the higher voltage power supply had been modificated. Then they made a new experimental setup. The electric current through the film is mA, the voltage on the film 56 V the external voltage on the plates 600 V. Students had many difficulties with theoretical explanation, because they had to learn a lot of reference sources which had not been taught at school yet. With the help of their supervisors they understood the phenomenon connected with water electrolysis when

positive ions move to negative pole and positive to the negative one. Some charge carriers go further and perpendicular field rotates them.

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Figure 18. Experimental skills development. Figure 19. Elaborated liquid film motor.

It was considered that rotating effect can be described by charge carrier redistribution. Both positive ions (H+) and negative ions (OH _) move correspondingly to the positive and negative electrodes. The less ions are the more ions’ mobility is. If the current direction on the frame has been changed the direction of the rotation became reverse. There was no rotation effect without current through the frame. The liquid films rotation was rather impressive phenomenon to investigate. Their experimental skills allowed them to construct and design the experimental set-up for the research. It gave an opportunity to obtain the circulating effect on the films. The voltage on the frame was 50 V and external voltage 600 V. When the film dimensions were smaller the threshold voltage decreases. The dependence of I on the frame from U external has been taken and it was demonstrated that rotation (under 100 V on the frame ) can increase the film conductive capability. The research was awarded by the Bronze medal at International Conference of Young Scientists, April 2015, Izmir, Turkey.

Conclusions

It is difficult to claim that wide application of the method mentioned above will help to solve the problem of cognitive interest development and noticeably improve the students experimental skills all over the country. We summarize here our positive experience without the intention to make general statements. According to the questionnaire in 2014/2015 school-year our students find the trainings and lectures interesting, useful and understandable as shown in the tables below.

The percentage Theoretical trainings at the third stage of positive answers The lectures were interesting and help me to understand the subject at school much better 62% My school marks become better after visiting University 23% My results at school have not been changed 77%

According to the tables we can see that practical trainings are more appreciated by students. The point that the school results were not improved by our trainings is rather negative and has to be discussed. However, the good message is that students affirm that experimental trainings contribute to their understanding of the theory. And the best result is that 92% of the SPTC participants became students of the Department of Physics and Technology at Karazin Kharkiv National University in 2015.

The percentage Practical trainings at the third stage of positive answers I find the experimental trainings challenging 71% I obtained a lot of experimental skills which will be useful in my future life 89% I am thinking about research career in future 92% To my mind the experimentation contributes the better understanding of theory 69%

In future we are planning to apply some elements of our methods at school teaching practice. We are sure that the interactive format of physics lecture and simple experimentation (with cheap household objects and recycle materials) can be used at the primary and secondary school lessons.

References [1] Amjadi A., Shirsavar R., Hamedani Radja N., Ejtehadi M. R. (2009) A liquid film motor, Microfluid and nanofluid. 6, 5 711-715 [2] Arons A. B. (1996) Teaching Introductory Physics, Wiley, NY. [3] Flick, L.B, Lederman, N.G. (2006). Scientific Inquiry And Nature of Science. In Flick, L.B, Lederman, N.G. (Ed), Springer (pp.35-127). Page | 97 [4] Kasperskyi A. V., Polikhun N.I. (2005), The developing of intellectual and creative abilities of the students\\ Pedagogical science, Kherson National University. [5] Krapp,A. (2002). Structural and dynamic aspects of interest development: theoretical considerations from ontogeneric perspectives. Learning and instractions, 12, 383-409 [6] Kazachkova N.(2008) How to form cognitive interest in physics using the interactive programmes “Paradox Show” \\ Pedagogical science, Chernigiv National University [7] Kazachkova, N., Yanson, Yu., Kryukov, Ye. (2000) Students Research Work Is One of the Innovative Methods of Physics Teaching , Proceedings of the International Conference Physics Teacher Education Beyond 2000 and PTTIS. Barcelona, Spain, 205. [8] Mathelitsch, L. Dorfinger, J., Ranz, J., Rath, G., Reichel, E. (2007), A Regional Centre For Didactics Of Physics, GIREP-EPEC Conference Proceedings, 452-456 [9] Michelini M, ed. 2003, Quality Developrnent in the Teacher Education and Training, Girep book of selected [10] Mykytenko P.V.Social Research By LCMS MOODLE (2015) Proceedings of the International Conference FOSS Lviv-2015, Lviv, Ukraine,(pp.70-72) [11] Sadowska M., Kaminska A, (2010) Problems in teaching physics in primary and secondary school, as seen by young Polish she-teachers. Proceedings if selected papers of the GIREP-ICPE-MPTL International Conference, Reims, 2010 (pp.180-186) [12] Shulman L. S. 1986 Educational Researcher, 15( 2) 4 papers, Forum, Udine [ISBN 88-8420-158-6] [13] Shchukina G.I. (1971), The problems of cognitive interest in pedagogics, Moscow [14] Trna, J. (2007). Motivational Problem Exercises Based on Simple Experiments. In Science and Technology Literacy in the 21st Century. Volume II. Cyprus : University of Cyprus, pp. 15-24. [15] Trna, J., Trnova, E. (2006). Cognitive Motivation in Science Teacher Training. In Science and Technology Education for a Diverse Word. Lublin : M. Curie-Sklodovska university press, p. 491-498. [16] Національна доктрина розвитку освіти // Вісн. Київ. облюдерж. адмін..-2002-26 квітня (№8). – С.4 [17] Сальник І. В. Проблеми створення та використання сучасного інформаційного середовища в навчально-виховному процесі / І. В. Сальник // Наукові записки. – Серія: Педагогічні науки. – Кіровоград : РВВ КДПУ ім. В. Винниченка. – 2009. – Випуск 82. – Ч. 1. – С. 91–96. [18] http://www.mon.gov.ua/education/average/prog12

Affiliation and address information Nataliya Kazachkova Scientific Physics and Technology Centre SPTC, MSE of Ukraine Karazin Kharkiv National University Department of Physics and Technology Maidan Svobody 6, room 228-B 61022, Kharkiv Ukraine Address for correspondence: provulok 23 Augusta 5-60, 61103, Kharkiv, Ukraine e-mail: [email protected]

How Worksheets Based on Data from Astronomical Catalogues Influence Key Competences

Ota Kéhar Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic

Page | 98 Abstract The amount of the information about astronomical objects has increased almost exponentially. As a result a large number of various lists, tables and other catalogues of astronomical objects exist. Some catalogues of astronomical objects (stars, minor planets, deep-sky objects) are available via multimedia textbook Astronomia (astronomia.zcu.cz). Online web applications were created using of these data. Another issue was to deal with usage of these catalogues in the education process. Main topic was to put emphasis on involving students/pupils in practical activities. As a result, several worksheets, instructions and exercises were prepared. Material can be used during lessons of Physics, Mathematics, Geography, English or any other subjects. It uses ICT in unconventional way. Worksheets were created based on the Framework Educational Programme (or School Curriculum) in Czech Republic with respect to use of multimedia equipment (computer, internet, etc.). Main research was done in 2011 and 2012 on a sample of secondary school pupils and university students. Learning competences were developed; it was strong development for more than half of participants, it was just average development for more than third of participants. Worksheets are prepared as a separate job. Communication competences were also developed. It should not be strange; communication competences also include i.e. the effective usage of modern information technology or the usage of correct technical language. Prepared exercises involve students/pupils to practical activities. Problem-solving competences were not developed so much. The main reason should be strict procedure for exercises based on worksheets.

Keywords Worksheet, exercise, astronomy, catalogues, Excel, interactive, application, multimedia, competences.

Multimedia Textbook Astronomia

Project Astronomia is a multimedia textbook established already in 2000 (and regularly updated). It is available online at astronomia.zcu.cz. It contains sorted information in the Czech language about planets of the Solar system, deep–sky objects, stars and other objects in the Universe. These pages are prepared from many relevant sources; they are usually translated from originals from English language. Currently there is no plan to create an English version of these pages. On the other hand, one unique part has also English mutation. It is focused on Catalogues of Astronomical Objects. Direct link to English version is located on the top left corner of the main page (astronomia.zcu.cz).

Catalogues of Astronomical Objects

Catalogues amount to over 680,000 objects and the total volume of data is about 200 MB, which is regularly updated and stored in the Astronomia database. Catalogues are in general divided into three groups of objects. The first group containing deep–sky objects (nebulae, stars clusters and galaxies) is in three catalogues – NGC (New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars with 7,840 objects), Messier catalogue (110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier) and IC (Index Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars with 5,386 objects). The second group contain stars – list of constellations (88 items), Gliese catalogue (contains 3,803 nearby stars), HIPPARCOS catalogue (118,218 stars) and a part of astronomical database SIMBAD (118,194 stars with HIP equivalent from HIPPARCOS catalogue). The third group is focused on objects in the Solar System – planets and their moons, and a list of minor planets – till May 2016 (list is updated monthly) we know more than 460 thousand numbered minor planets with confirmed their orbits secured by 4-well observed oppositions.

Online Application using Data from Catalogues

H–R diagram, Kirkwood gaps diagram, location of minor planets groups in the Solar System, Kepler’s laws demonstration can be easily demonstrated by Online web applications using data from catalogues of astronomical objects available on Astronomia. These applications can be also used during education process to

demonstrate the following issues (brackets contain a group of the used catalogue):

 Analysis of Minor planets parameters (minor planets)  Kirkwood gaps (minor planets)  Historical development of Minor planets (minor planets)  Current location of Minor planets in the Solar system (minor planets) Page | 99  Kepler's laws demonstration (minor planets)  Calculation of Apparent magnitude of Minor planet (minor planets)  Estimation of Surface temperature of Minor planet (minor planets)  Construction of HR diagram (stars)  Sun below horizon, Sunset and Sunrise, Twilights (stars)  (Circumpolar) constellations (stars)  Length of (astronomical) night (equinox, solstice) (stars)  Sidereal and Solar time (stars)  Nebulae, star clusters and galaxies on the sky (deep–sky)

Purpose of this contribution is not a description of all possible options and features of these applications. Previous list should be used as an overview to decide which application is suitable for education at your classroom. For more detailed description visit Astronomia for English guidepost available at link astronomia.zcu.cz/katalogy/education/.

Worksheets and their Evaluation

I have prepared several worksheets with various astronomical topics using data from catalogues of astronomical objects (as an example see fig. 1 with worksheet for Kepler’s laws, full version of worksheet is available on Astronomia). Each part of the worksheet is complemented by sub-questions that deepen the knowledge of students and it represents welcome feedback for teachers. Worksheets were tested and analysed on pupils from several secondary schools and university students in the Plzeň and Karlovy Vary regions.

Figure 1. Sample of a Worksheet for Kepler’s laws.

Key Competences development by Worksheets

On 30th Oct 2012 I have conducted a research on two worksheets (Kepler’s laws and Night sky) with 55 university students of general module “Astronomy for All”. Students also completed the questionnaire to determine whether key competences were developed. This questionnaire was prepared by Mrs. Lovasová from department of psychology of Faculty of Education University of West Bohemia in Plzeň, Czech Republic in project “The effectiveness of the project method in teaching of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics”. The questionnaire contains in total 15 groups, each group with three statements. Student chooses from one group the statement close to his opinion and related to the situation during lesson. For each key competence three groups of statements was intended. Each statement has different number of points (0−2) based on a special key given by Mrs. Lovasová. I counted points for each key competence during evaluation of results. I had following scale: 0 points (did not develop, blue colour, first area on the bottom of fig. 2), 1−2 points (slightly developed, red colour, second area from the bottom), 3−4 points (average developed, green colour, third area from the bottom) and 5−6 points (strongly developed, purple colour, area on the top). Fig. 2 shows development of all key competences during practical lesson with two worksheets. Key competences are listed on horizontal axis, rate of key competences development is plotted on vertical axis.

did not develop slightly developed average developed strongly developed 100 % 10 % 21 % 25 % 31 % 80 % Page | 100 37 % 56 % 60 %

56 % 58 % 40 % 56 %

46 % 38 % 20 % 21 % 12 % 15 % 6 % 0 % Working Learning Problem-solving Communication Social competences competences competences competences competences

Figure 2. Key competences development.

Using these worksheets learning competences (critical thinking, processing knowledge) was strongly developed for 56 % of participants and average developed for 38 % of participants. Worksheets are prepared mainly as a separate job. It could be strange, but communication competences were also developed – strong development was in case of 31 % of participants. On the other hand; these competences also include i.e. the effective usage of modern information technology and the usage of correct technical language. Both are included in prepared worksheets. Social and personal competences were also developed, strong development were achieved for 25 % of participant. It includes decisions based on their own judgment or adaptation to changing of working conditions. Even for exercises with full involvement of students/pupils to practical activities, problem-solving competences were not formed so much; strong development of competence had just 21% of participants. The main reason should be strict procedure for exercises given by worksheets. Working competences were slightly developed only; worksheets are demanding (in general as a question of time, knowledge etc.).

Conclusion

All prepared worksheets available on Astronomia were applied for several times on a significant sample of secondary school pupils and university students. As a result it was discovered that students usually do not have possibility to solve this kind of exercises (using data from catalog of astronomical objects) at school. Basic research related to comparison of exercises based on raw data (first type) and online applications (second type) were realized. Both types of exercises are similar for students. It is not possible to easily solve this type of worksheet without a computer and access to the internet, especially to Astronomia web pages. One dissatisfying comment from a university student was: “It is not possible to find answers on Wikipedia”. Go ahead! This answer finally confirmed that it is very important to have this kind of exercise. Students have to do some activities by themselves to find correct answers, not only surf on Google, Wikipedia, etc. and then use the typically utilised method of “copy-paste”. Any experiences with above applications, comments, ideas or suggestions, please, let me know. I will keep applications updated and fully working as long as it will be possible. It means you can implement them into your education process. I will be also grateful to have a feedback (or at least information) from teachers they are using these exercises.

References Aktan, D.C. Examination of preservice science teachers' understanding levels of Kepler's laws with ranking task questions. Journal of Baltic Science Education. Volume 13. Issue 2, 2014. Pages 276-288. Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education (Grammar Schools). Praha: Research Institute of Education, 2007. Available also from: http://www.vuppraha.cz/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/RVP_ZV_EN_final.pdf Framework Education Programme for Secondary General Education (Grammar Schools). Praha: Research Institute of Page | 101 Education, 2007. ISBN 978-80-87000-23-6. Available also from: http://www.nuv.cz/file/161 Kéhar, Ota. Catalogs of Astronomical objects on the website Astronomia and their Application at schools. Plzeň, 2014. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D.). University of West Bohemia at Pilsen. Faculty of Education. Minor Planet Center [online]. [cit. 2016-05-15]. Available from: www.minorplanetcenter.net Multimedia text book Astronomia [online]. [cit. 2016-05-15]. Available from: astronomia.zcu.cz Near Earth Object Program [online]. [cit. 2016-05-15]. NASA, 2015. Available from: neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/ Oostra, B. Astronomy Teaching with Astronomical Catalogues. The Physics Teacher, 2006. Issue 3, pages 153-156. Soga, M. The planetary simulator for generalized understanding of astronomical phenomena from various viewpoints. 12th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2008. Volume 5179 LNAI, Issue 3. Pages 596-603. Strasbourg astronomical Data Center. CDS [online]. 2016 [cit. 2016-05-15]. Available from: http://cds.u-strasbg.fr/ Suková, Z. Projektová metoda astronomie jako jedna z cest ke zvýšení atraktivity vyučování fyziky In Tvorivy učiteľ fyziky. Smolenice, 2012. Available from: http://sfs.sav.sk/smolenice/pdf_12/37_sukova.pdf

Affiliation and address information Ota Kéhar Department of Mathematics, Physics and Technical Education Faculty of Education University of West Bohemia in Pilsen Klatovská 51 306 14 Plzeň Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

Teacher Participants in the European Project TEMI Practice the Enquiry Methodology in Their Classroom

Sara Barbieri, Marina Carpineti, Marco Giliberti University of Milan, Department of Physics, Italy

Page | 102 Abstract TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated) is an European Project devoted to science teachers all around Europe. The aim of the Project is to help teachers in transforming their usual way of teaching to improve students’ learning and overcome a diffuse disaffection for science [Rocard Report, 2007]. Italian teachers who participated to the project followed (at least) 4 workshops, in 4 afternoons, during which they had the possibility to become familiar with the TEMI approach to teaching, based on enquiry [Windschitl, 2008]. We would like to share some results of about 40 teachers that followed the training, selecting their most meaningful experiences. The training was held within a course for apprentice teachers, most of whom were already in service, and it was based on the four innovations for the teaching/learning process that characterize TEMI: (1) the 5E’s learning cycle, (2) the productive mystery, (3) the showmanship and (4) the gradual release of responsibility, GRR [Collins, 1991]. Here, we would like to illustrate and discuss some of the works of the participant teachers that implemented for the first time the enquiry teaching with their students, in a 8-to-15 hour educational path. To do so, we decided to use an observation grid, represented by two questions: (a) How do I know what I know? And (b) How can I teach my students to ask themselves the same question? Therefore we classified teachers’ work on the basis of their ability in asking themselves the previous two questions, throughout their entire classroom work, and of putting the two questions at the core of a teaching/learning process during which both, teachers and students can improve their ability as “researchers” in science. Our results showed that, usually, most of the pre-service teachers did not ask themselves the questions (a) and (b) and, therefore, the aim of the TEMI training sessions was precisely to stimulate teachers in asking those two questions in an inquiry based teaching/learning process. In fact, whereas the enquiry methodology framework is quite easily acquired using the TEMI way, its implementation in classroom is much more difficult for teachers, most of all because it needs more than usual competencies in the physics content..

Keywords IBSE, pre-service teacher training, secondary school education.

Introduction

The strategy adopted by the European project TEMI is the implementation of innovative training programmes for teaching to teachers a new methodology based on enquiry [Bybee, 2006]. Those programmes are widely shared among the 13 European partners of the project and have a general uniform structure: the training is implemented by means of workshops that involve groups of about 15 teachers (called “cohorts”) who are guided through experiences that connect scientific core concepts to emotionally engaging activities based on inquiry. In Italy, the training workshops have been carried out in 4 afternoons of 4 hours each. The first two afternoons were held two months before of the last two, in order to permit teachers a first implementation in their classrooms of the four innovations at the core of the TEMI methodology, thus making the teachers’ teaching/learning process more and more alive. Below, we briefly summarize the TEMI innovations to facilitate the reading. See [Barbieri et al., 2014] and the TEMI website [TEMI].  Innovation 1 – The scientific mystery: The choice of a phenomenon or event that induces the perception of suspense and wonder in the learner and that initiates a‘want-to-know’ feeling which promotes curiosity and stimulates students in posing questions to be answered by enquiry and problem-solving activities.  Innovation 2 – The 5E’s learning cycle: The use of a learning cycle composed by the five phases: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate [Bybee, 2006]. Teachers may often be too quick in providing answers and telling students what is going on, without giving them the opportunities to ask and answer questions

by themselves, or to work out the answers, or to explore the problems by means of experiments.  Innovation 3 – The showmanship: The stimulation of students’ engagement by means of useful ways of implementing the chosen mystery and the enquiry activities related to it. Page | 103 There are different possibilities to do so, for instance: showing videos or doing demonstrations, asking students to undertake an experiment, performing an unexpected experiment, using role play or telling a story.  Innovation 4 – The gradual release of responsibility (GRR): This last innovation consists in a process that will change students’ awareness about their learning: from a very guided enquiry process, towards open enquiry. This is a path in which also the role of the teacher changes, becoming less instructive, and more enabling and flexible. It can seem quite unusual for some teachers, but enquiry based learning provides students with not only a better understanding, but with a stronger scientific approach in the study of science too. During the last two training workshops, teachers discussed their results with the trainers, showing them photos, reports and videos shot in their classrooms. Even if the scheduled training consisted of four afternoons, often the familiarization with the methodology continued with additional afternoons during which teachers were asked to solve more complicated mysteries, with the aim of a better appropriation of the methodology. We briefly summarize below the schedule of the training:  Workshop 1: After a brief introduction on the TEMI methodology and aims, the participants directly experience the GRR starting from “confirmation enquiry”; they observed the trainers who approached some mysteries and showed how to get their solution using enquiry).  Workshop 2: Teachers were guided to solve mysteries by means of lab-sheets (guided inquiry).  Practice in classroom: the participants had about two months to practice enquiry with their students in an educational path of 6-8hours, based on a mystery they could freely choose, according to the curriculum.  Last two workshops: the participants tried by themselves, with only a little help of the trainers, to hypothesize, to explore and eventually to solve the mysteries proposed by the trainers. Moreover, the participants discussed with the trainers and the other participants the educational paths developed in their classrooms ( with a level of enquiry is called structured or guided enquiry, depending on the degree of freedom in the enquiry process).  Additional workshops (normally 2 to 4): the participants dealt with more complicated mysteries, one per afternoon, having much more time to investigate by themselves and to find out the solution. Although the project is based on four innovations, in this work we will especially discuss some aspects of the gradual release of the responsibility, that is the main difficulty encountered by our teachers while facing for the first time the enquiry methodology in classroom.

Evaluation of the teacher training

Material produced during the training The whole training process has been monitored by means of materials produced by the participants in different contexts:  Evaluation questionnaires for each workshop: At the end of each workshop, the participants filled out a very simple questionnaire about their evaluation for what concerned its level of interest, clarity, enjoyment and applicability.  Final evaluation questionnaire: It consists in 28 questions with the aim of summarizing the previous experience of the participant teachers and their opinion about the TEMI training process both in the role of apprentices and in that of, teachers in their classroom.  Oral interviews at the end of the additional workshops:

In that context, while teachers experienced a way that can be successfully used for the fifth E (Evaluation phase); trainers, through those interviews, gained insights about teachers’ familiarization with the methodology and with the particular content treated.  Reports of teachers’ work in classroom: These reports were at the core of the participants’ work, because teachers in training illustrated right there how they implemented the new methodology in their classrooms. Page | 104  Teachers’ lesson planning based on the four TEMI innovations: These reports illustrated how teachers had become familiar with the enquiry methodology (even if only from a theoretical point of view, in the case in which the teachers were not yet in service and, therefore, could not implement the enquiry with their students).

Grid of observation of the material produced Whereas the entire amount of material can be observed from different points of view, for this work we are interested in the evaluation of the ability of the participants in asking themselves the following two questions: a) How do I know what I know? b) How can I bring my students to pose themselves the same previous question, that is: “How do I know what I know?”? The first question is fundamental when a teacher prepares his/her enquiry lesson. In fact, if the teacher’s attention is not continuously directed on this problem, most parts of his/her lesson risk to be uncorrelated to each other or to be only superficially faced by the teacher and, in turn, students cannot be enough guided and their ideas remain confused. In order to be as much clear as possible, we give here below an exemplification of the kind of questions that a teacher should think upon: “How can I know that the electrical current is carried by electrons?”, and immediately after: “How can I bring my students to pose themselves the same question?”. No surprise that this way of approaching gives completely different results than that of a teacher that uncritically says: “The electrical current is carried by electrons...”: and the whole lesson will develop in a different way. Keeping in mind this kind of questions, it’s likely that the lesson will be performed giving more priority to enquiry, to the experimental evidence, to the formulation of explanations from evidence or from a reasoning. But, of course, the previous one was just an example, and questions can be even less general and challenging, and they can pertain much more restrict domains. For example: “How do I know that the trajectory of a thrown object can be considered parabolic?”, or “How do I know that there are only two types of electrical charge, positive and negative?”, and so on. In the following, we propose three meaningful examples that describe different levels in which teachers avoid wondering the two a) and b) questions above. We conjecture that the ability of the teachers in asking themselves the previous questions is strictly connected with their ability in using IBSE (enquiry based science education) in their classroom..

Case 1. The teacher is able to stimulate students in wondering: “How can I know what I know?” but does not pose question a) to himself.

When teachers become familiar with the IBSE methodology it may happen that they design an educational path on a particular science topic with a relatively good ability in the organization of the parts. But a series of difficulties might nonetheless arise when they try to implement it with students. In this case, the problem is that the teacher did not ask himself the question “How do I know what I know?” and therefore he/she is not able to guide effectively his/her students.

The mystery proposed to the classroom: the inflated toy balloon inside a bottle. The learning objective is the introduction of the concept of pressure. The engaging phenomenon proposed to students is the fact that a toy balloon remains inflated inside a bottle, even when it is open, adhering to the mouth of the bottle, see Figure 1. (For a better understanding of the mystery we proposed to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkd0mDvYoz0).

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the bottle containing an inflated toy balloon.

Although the phenomenon here represented is quite known, it represents anyway a good mystery, because it is simple to be reproduced by the teacher, it is cheap, it is always fascinating, and it can be investigated by the students who really have the possibility to get to the solution.

The structure of the path proposed After the Engage phase that was well organized by our teacher, the following Explore phase was carried out quite effectively: it was planned a “hands on” activity suited for students. They had the task of reproducing the Page | 105 same phenomenon. The teacher was surprised reporting that: “My worst student was the first one that found out the solution!”. Despite his surprise, it is instead very common that an enquiry teaching way activates even students who are usually not motivated and lazy. The problems arose during the Explain phase, that was planned to bring students to the concept of pressure. The teacher role, in this part, becomes crucial: if he/she wants to introduce the pressure through inquiry, he/she has to have already managed that concept by himself/herself, and have very clear in his/her mind how to proceed from an experimental evidence, related to the concept, to the definition of the concept itself. Every single step of the path should have been clearly and deeply meditated: otherwise it is not possible to guide students in their task. We stress so much this point because, in our experience, very often we reveal the major shortcomings at this stage. In fact, what we can find in the subsequent description of our teacher activity is the sentence: “We obtained that the transmission of a force to a fluid takes place differently with respect to a solid. In particular, the force is distributed all over the balloon surface”. The terminology used by the teacher is not proper:  A force is not “transmitted”, but it is rather “exerted upon”. The physical content has some problems:  The passage from the vector properties of forces to the scalar properties of pressure is completely lacking.  If what I experience is a force distributed on the surface of a balloon, I’m speaking, again, of a force exerted upon an elastic solid (the balloon) and the link with the fluids is not clear, nonetheless the relation between the concept of force exerted and the concept of pressure ia absent. The teacher reports also the sentence: “The quantity responsible for the expansion of the toy balloon is continuous and without an application point”. The sentence appears lacking of physical sense, and in particular, it does not come out as a consequence of an experimental evidence, nor it comes from a reasoning. It is instead imposed from above, because all the activities performed brought exactly to the experience of a force that does act precisely in each point of the inner part of the toy balloon surface. Case 1 presented here, was quite common among the pre-service teachers that we encountered in our training sessions, when they were dealing with many different physical concepts. The difficulties in wondering “How do I know what I know” are likely due to the fact that a deep reflection on the particular physical content is not yet started and the teachers, in that case, have not yet practiced enquiry with themselves before facing the same topic with their students.

Case 2. The teacher is able in wondering the question: “How can I know what I know?”, but does not stimulate the same question with students.

When teachers have difficulties in become familiar with the IBSE methodology, they are, nonetheless, often able to design an educational path on a particular science topic in which it is simple and clear the sequence of stages from the mystery to its explanation, and/or the teacher has sufficiently reflected on the chosen topic, so to guarantee a certain consistence among the steps. What is, instead, generally lacking is the design of how to stimulate students in posing useful questions to get the solution of the mystery. While the parts of the sequence are well organized from the content point of view, they are not organized for what concerns the students’ point of view. This is a sort of a reverse of the Case 1, and is therefore a typical difficulty that can be ascribed to shortcomings in the familiarization with the methodology.

The mystery proposed to the classroom: What’s the curve represented in prospective? The Engage is realized by the image of Figure 2, reported below. While the mystery is interestingly presented, and the teacher’s idea about the solution of the mystery is clear, the learning objectives are not explicitly stated, showing a certain shortage of attention at the educational part. This first insight about this lack is then confirmed by the description of the structure of his proposal, using the 5E’s learning cycle.

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Figure 2. The mysterious curve represented in prospective.

The structure of the path proposed. After the Engage phase, that was sufficiently clearly proposed, as we have just seen, the other phases were not organized in a fruitful way for students. There was nearly no space for the Explore phase: • The teacher gave, as a hint, the tile matrix and expected that, the students by themselves were able to use it to solve the problem. • The other help that the teacher planned to give to the students was: “Notice the relation between abscissa and ordinate”. The Explain phase was then described with so few details that it seriously risked of being out of reach for most of the students. The teacher reported, for the explanation of the mystery, that: “The curve is effectively a parabolas. What to our eyes appears as a circumference comes from a cone and therefore the figure is the intersection of the cone with the flooring.” • Instead of describing how a student could be helped in his/her explanation of the mystery, the teacher gave a short and not detailed solution of the mystery itself. What could be the line that a student should follow to get the solution, remained a mystery. In other words, the educational part, that is fundamental in a teacher’s work, was here completely lacking.

Case 3. The teacher is in difficulty in wondering both of the two questions: “How do I know what I know?”, and “How can I stimulate the same question with my students?”

When teachers have difficulties in both of the two questions, it can mean they have a difficulty with the scientific contents together with a difficulty in the familiarization with the IBSE methodology. We present here the results of an oral interview taken after an enquiry lab, performed during the additional afternoons, each of which was devoted to a particular topic. The present one dealt with electromagnetic induction and the eddy currents.

The mystery proposed to the teachers was: “The invisible brake”. The Engage was realized by the help of a copper tube along which two, very similar, rings were dropping. None of them was attracted by the tube, but one of the two rings dropped along the tube with a much slower speed than the other one. Why? A graphical scheme of the experimental setup in the case of the magnetic ring is sketched in Figure 3. The learning objectives were a semi-quantitative description of the phenomenon by means of the eddy currents due to the electromagnetic induction given by the change in time of the magnetic field near a conductor.

The experiment of the copper tube with the dropping ring, in a thereof variant We deal now only with this part of the activities related to the mystery of the “Invisible brake” because we want to introduce an excerpt of an oral interview performed after the additional enquiry lab on electromagnetism. The initial experiment, presented during the Engage phase has a possible variant: the same structure (tube plus magnetic ring) can be placed on a balance and is then possible to read the balance display during the entire motion of the ring, from the instant in which one leaves it (it is suspended above the tube before the start), to the instant in which it reaches the balance surface. The diagram of the forces involved is represented in Figure 3.

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Figure 3. The copper tube (in grey) and one of the two rings that is dropping (in blue).

During an oral interview, one of the teachers expressed her interest for this experiment, and for that reason the trainer asked her to speak about it. Here below we report some of the most meaningful part of the interview, with some comments of the authors, who classified the participant in difficulty in wondering both of the two initial questions. Trainer (Tr): “So, would you please describe what you have seen?” Teacher (Te): “Mmm, well… what I suppose to have seen…” Te: “There was the experimental setup… needed to let the weight [a magnet, actually] to fall down along the copper tube… and when the weight was falling down, we always read on the balance display a weight different from zero…” Te: “And what I can provide as an explanation is that a magnetic force is created and it contrasts the motion of the weight falling down, and, that the force implies a force on the balance…” Te: “Since the weight has to move uniformly, the resultant of the forces must be zero, hence the magnetic force, upward, has to be of the same intensity of the force of gravity, downward” It seems that the teacher was confusing the hypothesis with the thesis: in fact, from the observation that the weight appeared on the balance display was the same both during the final part of the motion of the ring and when it definitely arrived on the balance surface, one could deduce that the motion of the ring was uniform, at least in the last part of the motion. Our teacher, instead, supposed, a priori, that the motion was uniform and deduced that the intensity of the gravity downward was equal to the intensity of the magnetic force upward. But the oral interview went on investigated to better understand: Tr: “But, how can you know that the velocity of the magnet is uniform?” Silence… Tr: “Is it an intuitive consideration? Do you see it at a glance?” Te: “…well… yes… yes… I would say that it’s… part of my previous knowledge…” Tr: “What’s the previous knowledge that you are referring to?” Te: “… oh… a similar experiment…during which someone told me: “look! it is moving with a uniform velocity!” Tr: “…and do you think that it can be convincing for a student? Is it enough that you tell your students: «I’ve seen another experiment like that in the past, and I can assure you that»” Te: “So, are you asking me: «How can a pupil find out that the motion of the magnet is uniform?»” Only at the end of the oral interview, she realized what should be the question that can be fruitfully kept in mind when preparing a lesson, or an experiment. In our experience, it is very frequent that during an oral interview, the one in front of the trainer, soon or later, realizes something crucial for the continuation of his/her understanding. In a sense, one could consider an oral interview as a good tool to trigger off a deeper and more personal approach towards scientific understanding.

Conclusions

The examples reported in this work are only three, but there would be a lot. We chose these three ones as representative of categories in which the participant teachers ends up, when they avoid asking themselves one of two questions a) and b) of the grid of observation here proposed, or both of them. For shortness, we do not report an example for the category in which teachers have asked themselves both of the two questions and, more or less Page | 108 aware of it, they carried out their educational path referring to those questions as a guide. From the data collected by the final written test we have that the 87% of the participants had been teaching for less than 5 years, and the 97% of them had never used enquiry. Evidently, they were still very novice in teaching, as in every pre-service training course. In fact, the direct experience in a classroom with enquiry methodologies is fundamental to reach a good sensibility in teaching with an IBSE methodology, but cannot stand alone: it needs continuous and systematic comparison with peers and experts. With the TEMI project, teachers have 4 afternoons to become familiar with enquiry. In our experience we can say that the amount of time is often enough for this purpose. Nevertheless, the great and diffuse problem is the application of the methodology in concrete cases. Even in the training sessions, once the mystery is given, teachers have to have a remarkable physics knowledge to consistently solve the proposed mystery, with no logical leaps when going through the Explore and the Explain phases. The activities presented in the TEMI project had the aims of: a first familiarization with IBSE; suggesting teachers concrete ways about how to develop more engaging science lessons with their students; provide a help for those teachers who wanted to start a new way of teaching based on enquiry. Years of work with student, personal reflections and practice, will however be necessary in order to be able to consistently implement IBSE in classrooms, never stopping from asking questions.

References Barbieri, S. R., Carpineti, M. and Giliberti, M. (2014). The European TEMI Project Involves Italian Teachers: First Outcomes. Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference, 759-766. Bybee, R., Taylor, J. A., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Carlson, J., Westbrook, A., Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins and Effectiveness. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS. Collins, A., Brown, J. S. and Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: making thinking visible. American Educator. http://www.learnpbl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Cognitive.pdf Rocard Report: European Commission (2007). Science Education NOW: A renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Commission. TEMI. European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 321403 – 2012- 1. http://teachingmysteries.eu Windschitl, M., Thompson, J. and Braaten, M. (2008). Beyond the Scientific Method: Model-Based Inquiry as a New Paradigm of Preference for School Science Investigation. Science Education. 92(5), 941-967.

Affiliation and address information Sara Roberta Barbieri Physics Department University of Milan Via Celoria 16 20133 Milano, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Marina Carpineti Physics Department University of Milan Via Celoria 16 20133 Milano, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Marco Giliberti Physics Department University of Milan Via Celoria 16 20133 Milano, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Summary and Typology of Astronomy Popularization in the Czech Republic

Radek Kříček Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Astronomical Institute of the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Page | 109 Abstract Czech astronomy popularization is often considered to be widespread, enhancing science career interest and being important because of the lack of formal astronomy education. These are the reasons we focused on it. We made a typology of popularization activities according to numerous criteria. The typology will be used in our research on the role of astronomy in science career interest.

Keywords Astronomy popularization, informal education, science interest, science career.

Introduction

Our ongoing science educational research is focused on the link between astronomy education and popularization and science career interest. Can we use astronomy activities to enhance the science career interest? Which activities are the most effective? Can we also cause some harm by following inappropriate goals? Many people are possibly influenced by astronomy popularization. Can we sort their life stories? To answer these questions we designed a combined research plan starting with qualitative analysis of nine interviews we performed and continuing with quantitative research to verify appearing hypotheses. In the first part we used methods of the grounded theory. When selecting the subjects of interviews, we attempted to include large variety of people who dealt with astronomy at some time. Among the subjects were one astrophysicist, one other scientist, a programmer and students of astronomy, chemistry, medicine, physics and engineering. The selection and questioning of the subjects was possible thanks to deep knowledge of Czech astronomy popularization environment. The overview of this environment is presented in this article. To simplify orientation in the large amount of activities and to investigate possible relationships or patterns in their role in science career interest, we made a typology using ten identified criteria. The relationships are a subject of future study. Therefore, this article can serve other scientists performing similar research as an inspiration for building their theoretical background as well as to readers interested in the diversity of performed activities. Nowadays, we are developing a questionnaire to confirm and broaden our interview-based hypotheses. Several papers suggest that astronomy could be used to motivate pupils towards science. It is one of the results of the SAS project described by Sjøberg (2002), in which around 9300 13-year-olds were asked. Life in the Universe and extinction of dinosaurs were among the most preferred topics to learn according to this survey. The life in the Universe was also identified as a topic increasing interest in science in the work of Zeilik, Bisard & Lee (2002). As part of so-called ROSE project, over 3600 pupils from Finland participated in a research of Lavonen et al. (2005). Although generally there were significant differences between the two genders, higher interest in astronomical topics was discovered in both groups. Thus, astronomy can help increasing interest in physics without danger of discouraging any gender. Based on these findings, authors suggest more research on development of physics courses in the context of astronomy. This was partially done in Czech literature. Czech authors developed physics tasks and lessons inspired by Galileo’s life and experiments, space objects such as Crab nebula or the planet Saturn, Hubble Space Telescope and others (Balcarová, 2011; Štefl & Navrátil, 2009; Štefl, 2014; Štefl & Domanski, 2012). Pudivítr (2004) discusses the role of astronomy in Czech education in his dissertation and presents a list of activities not only for physics lessons but also for other subjects, e.g. history, geography or arts. There was also attitude-oriented research on physics lessons in Czechia. Kekule & Žák (2009) did a survey of over 4000 pupils between 12 and 18 years (from secondary and upper secondary schools). Topics from astronomy and optics were among the most desired by pupils again, this time especially by girls.

Methods

Making the overview required detailed and effective study of available sources. It took part in the first half of 2015 but information was occasionally updated later as well. Two main types of sources were used, personal experience and dealings of the author and electronic sources. The author collected his experience approximately over past 10 years, at first as a participant in various Page | 110 popularization activities and later as an organizer. In 2014, three astronomical summer camps were visited (Malá Skála, Úpice Expedition, Říčky v Orlických horách) to observe the activities there. The Internet was the second and most important source. It was used to search for new, unknown activities and also provided detailed information about those which were already known to the author. A review was created containing many direct quotes from websites. Some texts were interpreted instead of copied. Also our interviews became a valuable source of information about the activities participants attended. All the findings were verified using other sources. As for creation of typology, we can say that the main method was text analysis. Our goal was to identify possible criteria to sort the popularization activities. We identified some criteria in the texts collected in the Internet. We used also transcriptions of the interviews. The interviews with various subjects dealing with astronomy or astronomy popularization were originally done for different research purposes but they were also used in the creation of typology of activities. We coded the statements. Mostly whole parts of the texts (several sentences) were labelled by codes. This helped us to identify some less obvious criteria. On astronomy education in Czechia

The astronomy popularization in the Czech Republic is considered widespread and important by many Czech astronomers. It is thought that it plays a significant role in childrens’ science interest. So far the popularization was not investigated by any research. However, it still has a crucial role at least in increasing astronomy awareness in our country. In formal education, astronomy is almost not included. In the current system, education is managed by several Framework Education Programmes created for various types of schools by the Research Institute of Education (VÚP). So called key competences are stressed in them. These are generally formulated certain qualities which should be reached by every pupil at the end of their school attendance. Key competences are complemented by list of topics which are expected to be taught and help to create the competences. Astronomy is included in the list of topics for secondary schools only in limited extent (VÚP, FEP EE 2007) and there is practically no astronomy in the list of topics for grammar schools (VÚP, FEP SGE 2007). Consequently, the importance of astronomy popularization is in substituting the lack of astronomy education in traditional school. We visualized some activities in an interactive map located in the website of the Czech Astronomical Society. It is shown in Figure 1. In online version, it is possible to zoom and shift the view and click on icons. Every icon shows a website of corresponding institution (e.g. observatory) after clicking.

Figure 1. The map of Czech astronomy popularization. The underlay was created by Google. Online version can be found at http://www.astro.cz/rady/interaktivni-mapa-astronomie-v-ceske-republice.html

Probably, 55 observatories working with public are present. The number is slightly changing with time, for example one observatory proved to be closed and one another appeared after we published our interactive map and gained some feedback from the public. The net of observatories is accompanied by 11 planetariums. Many children are exposed to astronomy regularly in astronomical clubs. Clubs take place in observatories, schools or leisure centres. Around 40 clubs are present according to the Section for Children and Youth of the Czech Astronomical SocietyE1. Besides of clubs for children, also several courses for older students or adults exist. They can be both presence and online. Almost ten thousand children participate each year in a competition called Page | 111 Astronomy OlympiadE2. Hundreds of children attend astronomical summer camps and expeditions. In Czechia there are about ten camps taking place. Many other activities exist although they do not reach so large amounts of people. Czechia is now hosting three dark-sky parks although these parks are not recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association. Their purpose is to popularize both astronomy and the problematics of light pollution. Two of them are international parks, the Izera Dark-Sky ParkE3 (Czechia and Poland) was the first international dark-sky park in the world. Public stargazing parties are organized in these areas. Unusual exhibits of astronomical instruments or so called planetary paths are located here. These were the most remarkable activities for public. Although a complete list of activities would be much longer, we will focus on the typology of activities now.

Typology of popularization activities

As was previously said, the typology was partly created during a detailed research on astronomy popularization, partly by coding interview statements. The apparent criteria which appeared immediately during research were the following: goal (of the organizers), initial skills (of the participants), science content (is it only about astronomy?), geography (where it is possible to participate), price, education of organizers, frequency (how often the activities take place) and age (of the participants). It appeared during analysis of interviews that the social context and the methods criteria can play an important role. We will start with a more detailed description of these important criteria, at first the social context. Examples from the interviews are given in Table 1. As we can see, our subjects were influenced by other people in various ways. For example, subject no. 1 restarted their interest thanks to their friend from school. In the case of subject no. 2 the lack of “usefulness” for others led them to exchange astronomy aspiration with medicine. The same subject expressed their remark that astronomical club they attended focused mainly on competition and it was not optimal. In the case of subject no. 3 and no. 4 the possibility of gaining or improving relationships encouraged them to develop their interest in astronomy activities. Subject no. 5 said that besides astronomy they were motivated to improve communication skills. They also liked competition. Subject no. 6 apparently didn’t interact with almost anybody during their school attendance. Still they decided to study astronomy at university. Subject no. 7 decided to work in a private company instead in scientific department because they like teamwork. To make a conclusion, social context can have different importance for different people and sometimes plays important role in deciding about their participation in astronomy activities or even scientific career. Interaction with other people had mostly positive or no role in motivation, we didn’t find any important negative mentions. It is a question whether possible excess of cooperation or competition in some activity can negatively influence those participants tending to the opposite. Various methods used in the popularization activities were the second important aspect often mentioned by the subjects. In Table 2 a list of examples is given again. By methods we mean various approaches to deal with astronomy. Several categories were identified, specifically observations (by naked eye or with a telescope or other tool), use of other types of tools (e.g. for computing), theory (e.g. calculations, learning of theory), physical activities and sport, creative activities (arts, games), investigative (including possibilities to participate in real research), presentation of own work (e.g. results of an investigative activity) or work with public (popularization, demonstrators at observatories). In the interviews, we found especially positive attitude towards observations or other practical activities. But among people who are very practically oriented in the sense of helping the society, there can be a danger of career fully or partially out of science. Subject no. 2 declared to prefer observations and “practical” activities and decided to study medicine which they also found “tangible” for helping other people. In the case of no. 7 the interest in electronics (“forcing matter to move”) was stronger than interest in astronomy and the subject decided to pursue a career in IT. Of course, not all the people must necessarily prefer practical tasks, as is the case of subject no. 1. Subject no. 3 mentioned some specific moments under dark sky as important for future attitude towards astronomy after they were questioned about that.

Table 1. Examples of interview statements regarding social context of popularization activities. In the first column, each subject has their own number. In the second column, the question of the researcher is written. In the case the subject said his statement without any previous question directly related to the statement, “no” is written. In the third column, the subject’s statement itself is written. The author’s notes inside the statements are written in brackets.

Subject Question Statement 1 Did you realize your In the case of physics, probably on my own, in the case of Page | 112 interest in physics astronomy… When I was young I was fascinated by night on your own or did sky. But I didn’t know how to observe so I stopped until the someone help you? grammar school, 7th or 8th year [around 12 or 13 years old]. Then [a friend] motivated me again and showed me how to observe. 2 no I liked physics because it was not so much about memorizing. But I didn’t have problems with learning. I started to study medicine because my father was a doctor. However, he was discouraging me. … But I was attracted by medicine because it was so tangible. I decided to study it in the 4th year of grammar school. I considered studying astronomy from 1st to 3rd year but it was only because of my pleasure. I wouldn’t have done anything for other people. 2 no … So I started to attend the astronomical club [at the elementary school]. But it was highly focused on competitions. We trained solving tasks, blind maps, almanacs. I think other activities could have been included. 3 no [about astronomical summer camp] … I liked the collective in the camp. In comparison with classical summer camps there was less strict regime. And I had something to talk about with other people. 4 Do you think that It belonged to that. … That aspect of some friendship, not social relationships very deep but you felt well with that people, it played a role were important for sure. in the observatory? 5 no My father is a physicist. … When I was a demonstrator at the observatory, it was quiet a motivation to start to talk to other people besides astronomy. … I think I had some mathematical ambitions to compete with boys already when we were learning multiplication. Write it down. [laugh] It has been valid all the time including nowadays. 6 various … I have never been reading much, when I was reading then encyclopedias. … I didn’t attend any astronomical clubs. … Nobody in my surroundings dealt with astronomy. … Nobody offered me the Astronomy Olympiad. … I didn’t attend any astronomical summer camps. 7 no And why am I glad for my choice [of career of a programmer]? I am satisfied not only with electronics but also with dynamical teamwork where I can solve new problems with my colleagues every day. The success of our company is dependent especially on the result of our team as a whole.

Related to the latter criterion, we should mention the specific role of aesthetics itself. Several subjects stressed important moments under the night sky in the formation of their astronomy or scientific interest. It does not necessarily mean it was always a part of some formal activity, some of them mentioned also similar private moments. Let us continue with the more obvious criteria allowing us to sort the popularization activities. One criterion related to our research is the goal of organizers. Do they want to educate future scientists, or is this not their aim? Vast majority of ongoing activities is focused mainly on popularization among general public, declaring no special intent considering the science career interest. Moreover, there are activities focused on specific practical goals. The goal can be basic research. Important activities for our focus of study are those dedicated to training of future scientists.

Table 2. Examples of interview statements regarding methods of popularization activities. In the first column, each subject has their own number. The subjects are labeled with their numbers from Table 1. In the second column, the question of the researcher is written. In the case the subject said his statement without any previous question directly related to the statement, “no” is written. In the third column, the subject’s statement itself is written. The author’s notes inside the statements are written in brackets.

Subject Question Statement Page | 113 1 So, do you prefer I still like CCD observations. But I was not born to be experiments? an experimentalist. When I have to construct an apparatus, I get measles. 2 Do you remember Yes, it was also important for sure. The national round of the any strong Slovakian Astronomy Olympiad in Lesná – we were told to observation find an object and say something about it. I liked it, it was so moments? practical. I also liked to observe meteor showers. … I found the Astronomy Olympiad better than the Čo vieš o hviezdách competition. It was more about thinking and it contained the practical part. … Later I started to think more pragmatically and chose medicine. … Astronomy is appropriate to increase interest in physics due to its practicality. 3 no I was not solving the Astronomy Olympiad in upper secondary school any more. I checked the conditions and they were different. Moreover, I didn’t want to solve it, it was very theoretical. When I started with the Astronomy Olympiad I was mainly theoretically oriented, but later I liked to observe. 3 Can you tell me In a summer camp we were testing the limits of our telescope about some and I saw Uranus and Neptune for the first time. Another important moments moment was when I used my glasses to observe stars for the [for your future] first time. Suddenly the view of the sky was even more regarding awesome. In the 9th grade [of elementary school] I saw the astronomy? comet McNaught, I ran out of the house during day, hid theSunwith a prefab and it was the very first time I saw a comet. Later I saw also the comet Holmes, spreading into its surroundings, and took some photos. 4 I would like to It resulted from the awesome physics teacher we had, who did know who brought everything using experiments. … And there was the offer. you to astronomy or The offer in the observatory, not only various courses I how you got to it. attended but also the possibility to work in various interest You said it groups like the Section of Variable Stars, or I earned some somehow resulted money as a demonstrator in the observatory, for visitors, … from the So I participated more in that field, I read more. But I cannot [elementary] school say a specific person brought me to, it resulted somehow. you attended. 6 So you motivated Rather, I started to study physics and I wanted to continue yourself. Or were with astronomy. Because I liked to observe stars, I was good you influenced with in mathematics and physics and I was interested in that. something else I found it attractive to compute something and then to use it except for books to somehow. study astronomy? 7 no The interest in electronics continued so my parents sent me to an electro club in the third year [of elementary school] which I attended for 4 years. The building of electric circuits allowed me to force the matter to behave according to my wish, but I dealt with several difficulties: the components were much more expensive than today, the financial sources were very limited in that age and the circuit needed to be soldered lengthy. … I perceived astronomy as a hobby and never considered a scientific career in that area.

When we would like to enhance a child in scientific career, it is of course important to choose it according to its current (initial) skills. We sorted all activities into three groups: activities for amateurs, for people with long term interest, and for people with certain level of expertise. Large scale of activities is designed for amateurs.

Not every “astronomical activity” is only about astronomy. Activities can be sorted according to the question whether they contain also other topics. We divided them into four categories: just astronomy, astronomy and physics (in larger amount), astronomy and information technology, and other combinations.

Table 3. Typology of astronomy popularization activities in Czechia. For each identified criterion, all groups are listed together with the types of activities belonging to them. The abbreviations for types of activities together with examples are: Page | 114 AC – astronomical clubs (about 40 clubs); AS – astronomical societies (Czech Astronomical SocietyE4, Astronomical Society of Valašsko); C – competitions (Astronomy Olympiad, Astronomical Year); DC – distributed computing (SETI@home, Czech National Team); DSP – program of dark sky parks (Izera Dark-Sky Park, Beskydy Dark-Sky park); L – literature, magazines (books, Astropis magazine); OC – online courses (of Brno observatory, Talnet); OR – online research (PlanetHuntersE5, Galaxy ZooE6); PC – presence courses (Prague observatory, Ostrava planetarium); PO – program of observatories (about 55 observatories); R – research (Open Science, Upper Secondary School Professional ActivityE7); SC – summer camps, expeditions and summer schools (Úpice ExpeditionE8, Zlín), TE – trips or expeditions, e.g. for astronomical phenomena (Aldebaran Group for Astrophysics).

Criterion Groups & Examples Social context Individual Collective Cooperation Competition C, DC, L, OC, AC, AS, C, PC, SC, TE C OR R SC, TE Methods Observations Use of other tools Theory Physical AC, C, DSP, L, AC, OC C, L, OC, PC, SC activities OC, PC, POSC, AC, DSP, SC, TE TE

Creative Investigative Presentation Work with public AC, C, R, SC OR, R R PO Goal Popularization Academic growth Practical AC, C, DC, DSP, L, OC, R, SC DC, OR, R OC, PC, PO, SC, TE Initial skills Amateurs Long-time interest Level of expertise AC, C, DC, DSP, OC, L, OR, PC, PO, SC, TE OC, R PO, SC, TE Science content Only astronomy Astronomy Astronomy Astronomy and C, DC, DSP, L, and physics and IT other sciences OC, OR, PO, R L, PO, SC AC, OC, SC L, PC, PO, SC, TE Geography International National Local C, DC, L, OR, TE C, L, OC, R, SC AC, AS, DSP, PC, PO, TE Price Free Initial investment Regular payments C, DC, DSP, OR, R AC, C, PC, TE AS, L Education Amateurs Experts or combined of organizers AC, DSP, L, PO, SC, TE C, DC, L, OC, OR, PO, R Frequency One-time events Weekly Several times per year PO, TE PC, PO L Yearly Irregularly Others C, R, SC, TE PO DC, DSP, OC, OR Age Nursery school Elementary Secondary school Upper secondary AC, PO, TE school AC, C, DSP, L, school AC, DSP, L, PO, PO, SC, TE AC, C, DC, DSP, SC, TE L, OC, OR, PC, PO, R, SC Adults Families Seniors Teachers AS, DC, DSP, L, DSP, PO, SC, TE DSP, PO, TE L, PC OC, OR, PC, SC, TE

According to geography, we distinguish between international, national and local levels. The largest variety of activities we found at the local level. Besides geography, also the price can affect children’s access to popularization activities. Many of them are for free. Others require an initial amount of money invested. For some activities, regular payments are necessary. Perhaps, especially when we want to train future scientists, the education of organizers can play a role. In Czechia, many of them are volunteers or amateur astronomers.

Is it enough to visit an observatory twice during the school attendance or should we encourage pupils to go to an astronomical club every week? Another criterion is the frequency of activities. Big parts of activities are not intended to repeat or they repeat for different visitors. Others are repeating regularly. There are also activities which can be done any time. To be complete, one of the most obvious but also important criteria is the age of participants. Some activities are designed for groups of a specific age, some of them are more general. In Table 3, we present all of the criteria and groups mentioned above. For each group, there is a list of types of Page | 115 activities fulfilling its description. To make the typology clear, we introduced an abbreviation for every type. The list of abbreviations is in the caption together with examples of activities for each type.

Conclusions

Astronomy is almost not included in obligatory minimum for Czech pupils. Still, according to many papers, it can be the most popular part of physics education. Even the astronomical context can stimulate pupils’ interest in learning other traditional parts of physics curriculum. Because of the lack of astronomy in Czech schools, astronomy popularization has huge importance so we aimed our work to describe its current situation. In the future, we aim to explore the role of astronomy both in and outside of school in career interest and choice. To do it, we started with a detailed review of Czech astronomy popularization. We used mainly electronic sources, interviews and personal experience. Offered activities are numerous and diversified. To sort them, we identified ten criteria. Two of them were found using the interviews: we called them methods and social context. These two aspects were often described or stressed by the subjects.

References Balcarová, K. (2011). Galileův život v úlohách. Pokus, jak oživit výuku fyziky dějinami fyziky, Matematika-fyzika- informatika. 20, 145-155. Kekule, M. and Žák, V. (2009). Mají dívky a chlapci rozdílné postoje k fyzice a zájem o ni? Co s tím?, Pedagogická orientace. 3, 65-88. Lavonen, J., Byman, R., Juuti, K., Meisalo, V. and Uitto, A. (2005). Pupil interest in physics: A survey in Finland, Science Education. 1, 72-85. Pudivítr, P. (2004). Výuka astronomie na středních školách. Dissertation thesis. MFF UK, Praha, CZ. Sjøberg, S. (2002). Science for the children? Report from the SAS-project, a cross-cultural study of factors of relevance for the teaching and learning of science and technology. Report from the SAS project. Štefl, V. (2014). Nejkrásnější planeta sluneční soustavy Saturn v úlohách, Matematika-fyzika-informatika. 23, 27-40. Štefl, V. and Domanski, J. (2012). Hubbleův kosmický dalekohled ve výuce fyziky na středních školách, Matematika-fyzika- informatika. 21, 274-286. Štefl, V. and Navrátil, Z. (2009). Krabí mlhovina ve fyzikální výuce na gymnáziu, Matematika-fyzika-informatika. 19, 32-39. VÚP: FEP EE (2007). Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. Prague, 2007. VÚP: FEP SGE (2007). Framework Education Programme for Secondary General Education. Prague, 2007. Zeilik, M., Bisard, W. and Lee, C. (2002). Researched-Based Reformed Astronomy: Will It Travel?, Astronomy Education Review. 1, 33-46.

Selected electronic sources E1: http://mladez.astro.cz/?page_id=1644 E2: http://olympiada.astro.cz/ E3: http://www.izera-darksky.eu/index-en.html E4: http://www.astro.cz/ E5: https://www.planethunters.org/ E6: https://www.galaxyzoo.org/ E7: http://www.soc.cz/ E8: http://expediceupice.cz/

Affiliation and address information Radek Kříček Astronomical Institute Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University in Prague V Holešovičkách 2, 180 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic, e-mail: [email protected]

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Part II

Educational Development and Research

The Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions after Training about Ionic and Electron Conduction in Simple Electric Circuit: An Exploratory Study

Abdeljalil Métioui1, Louis Trudel2 1Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal(Québec), Canada 2Université d'Ottawa, Ottawa (Ontario), Canada Page | 117 Abstract In the present paper, we identify the conceptions after teaching of 100 preservice elementary teachers on the ionic and electron conduction in the simple electric circuit. To this end, we constructed a multiple choices questionnaire composed of six questions. The analysis of the data of this questionnaire shows that several preservice teachers succeeded in changing their initial false conceptions after teaching constructivist strategy composed of five stages. It also shows that some false conceptions constructed by preservice teachers result from instruction.

Keywords Conceptions, ionic conduction, electron conduction, electric circuit, preservice teachers

Introduction

Research around the world underlines the training deficiencies of preservice teachers of elementary school in teaching their pupils the basic notions in science, especially in physics and chemistry (Allen, 2010, Criado and Garcia-Carmona, 2010; Métioui and Trudel, 2014). To remedy this situation, several countries develop programs for preservice teachers in order to help them acquire for themselves these basic concepts while doing experimental activities (Häkkinen and Lundell, 2012; Lee, 2004; Métioui and Trudel, 2015; Sanger and Greenbowe, 2000). The present research appears in this perspective and aims to present the results of an experimentation with one hundred (100) preservice teachers in a science education course. In the curriculum of the primary school in the province of Quebec in Canada, teachers must initiate their pupils to energy transformations put into play in the functioning of simple electric circuits.

Methodology

Thus, in the case of transformations from chemical energy to electric energy, we experimented a didactical strategy composed of five stages: (1) assessment of the initial conceptions; (2) experimentation; (3) critical analysis of the research on animal electricity (Galvani) and metallic electricity (Volta); (4) study of matter composition: atomic and ionic states and (5) use of software in the Web which simulates the functioning of a battery. The last three steps were carried out in 4 periods each lasting 2 hours a week after they have completed step one of the initial (before teaching) paper-pencil questionnaire for a period of sixty minutes. To evaluate preservice teachers’ learning after having achieved experimentations, we distibuted them a paper- pencil questionnaire composed of 6 questions with multiple choices (see appendix) they had to complete during two hours. In order to identify their conceptions, they had to justify their choices. To complete this questionnaire students must justify their answer by referring to what they have learned throughout the experiment. Note that in the case of the initial questionnaire (stage 1) they had to refer to prior knowledge. To analyse the results of the questionnaire, we regroup the answers in distinct categories, the number of which being variable from one question to the other. Let’s note that this categorization serves us to make the distinction between their correct, incorrect and partially correct answers. To qualify in such a way, we compared them to the correct answers of our questionnaire. Finely, we interpreted the set of the categories identified in order to put in evidence the constructed conceptions.

Analysis of the data

Analysis of the first question The purpose of this question was to verify that students have given up their misconceptions considering the battery as an electric current reservoir as a result of activities performed. Note that following the analysis of data from the initial survey (step 1) the majority of students had this misconception. The results below shows that the majority abandoned this false conception. For the majority of students (73%) the battery is not an electric current reservoir. It is composed of two different metals and a solution that can generate ions. To illustrate this result, we present below the justification advanced by student:

“The battery contains a substance with ions that pushes the electrons of a boundary-mark of the battery to move from atom to atom in the copper wire (it is the displacement of these free electrons that one calls electric current) until the other side of the battery which receives (it receives the same number of electrons that has been sent) them.”(S30) According to 27% of students, the battery is a common tank. The analysis of the justifications shows that these students confuse the notions of the electron, ion, electric charge and electric current. Also, for some students, the battery contains energy ready to move as soon as the circuit is close: Page | 118 “The electric current passes in a circuit thanks to the battery (ions) and the wires (free electrons). It is a reservoir, because the current waits to be in contact with a material conductor.” (S1) “The inside of the battery stores the free electrons freed of their atoms. Thus, its electrons possess positive and negative ions. Since these are composed of electric charges, the reservoir of the battery is therefore an electric current, because the electric current is composed of electric charges loads.”(S4) “The battery contains the energy ready to circulate in a circuit. It is what explains that one can be shocked on the tip of the tongue if one puts the positive boundary-mark of a battery on his tongue.”(S8)

Analysis of the second question As for the second question, we asked them to indicate, while explaining their answer, if the following statement is true or false: "In a circuit composed of a battery and a bulb, the electrons only circulate inside the battery if it contains an ionic solution." For 49% among them, the statement is false because the transportation of the current in the circuit is carried by electrons through the electrodes and by ions through the electrolyte: “The free electrons never circulate in the battery, only in the wires and the bulb. In the battery there are charged ions (atoms that have lost or won electrons).” (S16) “The electrons circulate outside of the battery. The free electrons circulate from atom to atom or from molecule to molecule. When there is an ionic solution, these are the ions that circulate in the solution.” (S18) On the other hand, the other (51%) have an erroneous conception, such as that the electrons move in the electrolyte thanks to the ionic solution: “The electrons can circulate if there is an ionic solution since an atom that loses some electrons becomes an ion. To move, the electrons must be inside a conductor, that is the ionic solution. The negative boundary-mark receives the minerals and the positive boundary-mark gives some ions.” (S1) “A battery must be composed of two different metals (a donor and a conductor) and an ionic solution to be able to let the electrons circulate freely.” (S20) “The electrons only circulate inside the battery if the solution is ionic. To free an electric charge coming from the battery, an electron must become attached to an ion. ” (S8)

Analysis of the third question In the case of a question on a circuit composed of two metals (copper and zinc), dilute acid and a galvanometer, we want to verify if the students consider the conduction of electricity through the solution caused by negative and positive ions only. Four categories of answers have been identified following the analysis of the justifications given: Category 1 (30%) - The conduction through the solution exists only thanks to the movements of negative ions and positive ions (correct conception): “Some ions are the atoms that lost or won one or more electrons. These ions travel from copper to zinc, which makes the solution ionic and therefore conductor. The electrons only move through the solid. It is the ions that move in a solution. Since the ions are atoms that have lost or won electrons, therefore there are positive ions and negative ions that cross the solution.” (S2) “In the solution, there are only ions, not electrons. One metal loses some negative ions whereas the other metal wins some positive ions; it is this reaction that makes the electrical conduction.” (S9) For those students, there are two types of current circulated in an electrical circuit: the ion current (displacement of positive and negative ions in the electrolyte) and the electric current (moving electrons out of the battery). Category 2 (13%) - In this category, we have grouped the students who think that, in the solution there is no movement of electrons, which is correct. For some, we have only a movement of positive ions (5%) or negative ion (8%). This misconception results from a misunderstanding of the redox reaction between the metal and the electrolyte (misconception). “In a reaction of oxidoreduction, it is necessary that the reducer gives some ions to the oxidizer. Therefore, these negative ions leave from the reducer to reach the oxidizer.” (S27) “These are always and only the negative charges that are transferred from one place to another, in this case of a metal to the other. The liquid permits the transfer of charges.” (S39)

“The solution transmits the positive ions that are transported from one blade to the other and given to the solution.” (S43) “The electrons move in the electric wire. Therefore, it is necessary t that it is the positive ions that take care of the conduction in the solution.” (S53) Category 3 (41%): The conduction through the solution makes itself thanks to the movements of electrons transported by the ions of the solution (misconception): “The electrons are in movement and it is through the ions of the solution (conductor) that the passage of the Page | 119 current makes itself.” (S15) “It is the loss of zinc electrons transported in the acidic solution that permits the transfer and that creates a chemical reaction. This is what will permit the passage of an electric current.” (S19) Category 4 (16%): The conduction through the solution makes itself thanks to the motion of free electrons in the solution (misconception): “What makes that the intensity of the current circulates quickly in the battery; these are the free electrons in the solution. Even though in the solution one has atoms of copper and zinc, the free electrons permit the conduction.” (S8) “So that there is conduction, the free electrons in the solution will pass from the positive boundary mark to the negative boundary mark in the circuit.” (S31)

Analysis of the fourth question This question was designed to verify if students have understood that when charging a battery, it converts electrical energy into chemical energy, so the two electrodes restore the lost matter during the transformation of chemical energy into electrical energy. According to the analysis below, a minority has advanced a fair answer. Category 1 (31%) - When one charge a battery, one transforms the electric energy in chemical energy: “The chemical energy contained in the solution of the battery transforms itself into electric energy to produce the current.” (S7) “When one places the battery in a battery charger, the missing electrons are put back in the battery thanks to the electric energy.” (S40) “Inside the battery, there is a chemical reaction due to the different electric charges of zinc and copper. However, the ions inside turn into electrons in the outside circuit.” (S27) “Inside the battery, there is a solution and electrons that produce the chemical energy. Once the battery is charged, it is the electric energy that we have to our disposal.” (S3) Category 2 (69%) - When one charges a battery, one transforms the chemical energy in electric energy: “With the help of electricity, one charges a battery. It is therefore the electric energy. Thereafter, the battery (or the materials used to constitute the battery) regenerates, what creates a chemical energy.” (S8) "When one charges a battery, one produces the inverse reaction of when one uses a battery in a circuit. Thus, one allows the electrons to return to their metal of origin so that one can recreate the chemical reaction that produces electricity." (S54) "The device that permits to charge the battery transforms the electric energy in chemical energy so that the metals of the battery return to their initial state." (S38)

Analysis of the fifth question The purpose of this question is to identify the conceptions of students about chemical properties of electrodes that make up the stack and how the distance between the electrodes affects the brightness of the bulb in the circuit. In this regard, one would require that electronic configurations of the two electrodes are different: one is charged negative (electron win) and one positive (electron loss). As to the distance between the electrodes, it may provide more strength (or less) to the ion movement. 81% of students selected circuit (4) wherein the two electrodes are different, and the distance between them is small: “The presence of the two different metals is very important so that a reaction operates itself with the liquid. Besides, the fact that the two metals are placed near one of the other makes so that there is less resistance and that the bulb illuminates more.” (S76) 13% considered only the electrodes that make up the battery by choosing the circuit 1: “One recovers two different metals in a solution, it is like a battery and that allows the bulbs to ignite.” (S1) “Because it is the one that is composed of the elements of the battery with a shorter electric wire than the circuit 4.” (S13) Only 6% chose the circuits in which the electrodes are identical (Zn / Zn or Cu / Cu): “The circuits (3), (e5) and (6) won't illuminate, because they are composed of two times the same metal. Therefore, there is no possible exchange of electrons.” (S32)

“While comparing the circuits (2) and (4), one notes that the wire being on the left of the bulb is longer in this circuit that the (2). It represents a bigger loss of energy, the circuit (2) will illuminate therefore better.” (S40)

Analysis of the sixth question This is the same situation presented to the question #5, only this time, we asked them to indicate in which of the circuits there are more free electrons that move in the solution, explaining their response. Page | 120 Category 1 (30%) - For a minority, the electrons do not move in a solution and these are the ions that move (just design): “The electrons don't move in the solution, therefore there is no free electron.” (S79) “There are as many free electrons in every circuit, but it would be ions.” (S82) Category 2 (40%) - The distance between the electrodes of the circuit 1 is larger, so there are more free electrons that can move (misconception): “Because the blade of copper and zinc are conductors. That being said, there is a lot of space between the two blades to let circulate the free electrons. If there is more space, they have more places to have free electrons.” (S5) “To have a solution, one must have at least two substances; in (a) oneself has the copper and zinc. There are more free electrons because the atoms are more distant.” (S27) Category 3 (30%) - There are more free electrons in the circuit 2, 3, 5 or 6. Thus, for these students the electrodes that make up the stack must be identical. In the case of circuit 2, for those students there are more free electrons in the solution because the zinc readily gives its electrons, unlike the copper (5%). As for the circuit 6, there are more free electrons because the distance between the two electrodes which are identical (Zn / Zn) is large (12%): “Zinc frees two electrons while the copper tries to win two electrons. Then, there are more free electrons in the solutions with two blades of zinc and no blade of copper. ” (S29) “There is only the free electron, because there are only copper and vinegar. Then, there is some more that to the circuit (e), because the two copper boundary-marks are more distant.” (S51) “Because there are two zinc blades and that the blades are distant. Therefore, there are no electrons that circulate in the circuit.” (S63)

Conclusion and didactical suggestion

In spite of a formation given in several periods with the help of several didactic supports, the understanding of the ionic conduction in one electrolyte is not easy to acquire for several preservice teachers. The majority of students have difficulty to explain coherently the movement of electrons in metallic conductors and the ion motion in the solution. Majority refers to the motion of electrons in the solution. According to research, this misconception persists even among students who have completed advanced courses in electrochemistry (Corriveau, 2011). According to Niaz (2002), teaching that focused on memorization and rote application of the formula does not undermine these misconceptions: “the ability to solve routine problems based on memorized formulae does not transfer readily to problems that require conceptual understanding” (p.435). In the case of the presented research, we have avoided any use of formulas in the educational strategy to focus only on the qualitative aspect of the phenomena studied.

Table 1. Synthesized of preservice teachers’ conceptions and of their corresponding scientifically accepted counterpart False conceptions Scientific conceptions The electrons circulate in the solution The electrons never circulate in the solution Electrons possess positive and negative By definition, an atom (or molecule) that loses one (or more electrons) ions becomes a positive ion. We also say that the atom (or molecule) is positively charged: an electron deficit. By definition, an atom (or molecule) that wins one (or more) electrons becomes a negative ion. We also say that the atom (or molecule) is negatively charged: an excess of electrons. The battery is an electric current The battery is not an electric current reservoir. In a battery, we have two reservoir, because the current wait to be electrodes (anode and cathode) separated by an electrolyte. in contact with a material conductor. The battery is a reservoir of energy: It The battery is not a reservoir of energy. We have a redox reaction that occurs contains the energy ready to circulate. when a battery is connected to the terminals of a light bulb. The chemical energy produced due to the reaction between the electrodes and the solution is transformed into electrical energy outside the battery.

However, in the present research the conceptions identified after the strategy teaching reveals, among others, the importance to insure that the following terms are used adequately: positive ion, negative ion, and ionic solution, electron, charged battery, chemical energy, electric energy, and conductor. Also the identification of the conceptions after strategy teaching helps to identify the gaps in the strategy as well as the notions in which it would be necessary to take more time. The table 1 summarizes the conceptual difficulties that were identified and the conceptions at a scientific level.

Page | 121 In conclusion, the erroneous conceptions constructed by the preservice teachers following this strategy teaching are important in a context of teaching. To help them to construct more scientific conceptions, more research is needed on these conceptions that results from training.

References Allen, M. (2010). Misconceptions in Primary Science. New York: Open University. Criado, A-M. and Garcia-Carmona, A. (2010). Prospective Teachers’ Difficulties in Interpreting Elementary Phenomena of Electrostatic Interaction: Indicators of the status of their intuitive ideas. International Journal of science education, 32(6), 769-805. Corriveau, D. (2011). Effects of instructional changes on student learning of electrochemistry in an IB chemistry course, Master's report, Michigan Technological University. http://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds/52 Häkkinen, P. and J. Lundell (2012). Motivating classroom teachers into hands on science experiments in primary school science education, 11th European Conference on Research in Chemical Education (ECRICE), Abstract Book: PS2. PO136, 496. Lee, S. J. (2004). A study of cognitive development and teaching strategies of batteries and electrolysis for the elementary school students. Annual Report to the National Science Council in Taiwan (in Chinese) Taiwan: National Science Council. Métioui, A. and Trudel, L. (2015). Developing laboratory experiment for elementary pre-service teachers: Diagnostic of simple electric circuits with electrical instruments (ammeter and voltmeter). Siences & Technologies, 5(3), 121-125. Métioui, A. and Trudel, L. (2014). Primary Student Teachers’ Misconceptions about Electrostatic. In Teaching learning science at all levels. Monograph Edited by: Pawet Ciesla & Anna Michniewska. Publisher: Pedagogical University of Krakòv, Krakòv, 124-127. Niaz, M. (2002). Facilitating conceptual change in students’ understanding of electrochemistry. International Journal of Science Education, 24, 425-439. Sanger, M.J. and Greenbowe, T. J. (2000). Addressing student misconceptions concerning electron flow in aqueous solutions with instruction including computer animations and conceptual change strategies. International Journal of Science Education, 22, 521-537

Appendix

Questionnaire

Question#1: The following statement is true or false: The battery is an electric current reservoir.  True  False Justification :

Question#2: The following statement is true or false: In a circuit composed of a battery and a bulb, the electrons only circulate inside the battery if it contains an ionic solution.  True  False Justification :

Question#3: A circuit composed of two metals (copper and zinc), dilute acid and a galvanometer, specify if the conduction of electricity through the solution is caused by:  The motion of electrons transported by the ions in the solution  By the electrons and positive ions only  By negative ions and positive ions only  Free electrons in the solution  Positive ions only

 Negative ions only Justification.

Question#4: When one charges a battery, one transforms the chemical energy in electric energy  True  False Justification :

Question#5: Check the slot that corresponds to the circuit in which the bulb will illuminate the most:

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Question#6: Check the slot that corresponds to the circuit (Question #5) for which of these solutions has the more of free electrons.

Affiliation and address information Abdeljalil Métioui Professor Département de didactique Université du Québec à Montréal C.P 8888, succursale Centre-Ville Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8 Canada e-mail: [email protected]

Assessing the Professional Vision of Preservice Teachers in the Teaching- Learning-Lab Seminar

Florian Treisch, Susan Fried, Thomas Trefzger Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, University of Würzburg, Emil-Hilb-Weg 22, 97074 Würzburg

Page | 123 Abstract This study focuses on the development of the professional vision of preservice physics teachers in the teaching- learning-lab seminar at the University of Würzburg. In this seminar, preservice teachers create experimental stations, teach students on this stations and get feedback from their peer-group and the experts. Half of the preservice teachers will be filmed during each teaching unit. The videos will be used to analyse their teaching performance. The professional vision will be assessed with the online based Observer Tool in a pre-post design. This paper shows the setting of the seminar, the basic theory, the research design and the evaluation.

Keywords Professional vision, teacher education, teaching-learning-lab, video-based learning

Introduction

After the publication of the studies of TIMSS or PISA (Baumert 2001; Prenzel 2004), a discussion about teachers’ education has aroused. Do teachers learn in their education what they have to deal with in their jobs? One conclusion was that the professionalization of teachers should be more and more included in educational research. Another opinion was that there has to be a better connection between the theories teachers learn at the university and their practical training. Since 2009, the University of Würzburg provides the opportunity to link this gap between theory and practical work for preservice physics teachers with the teaching-learning-lab (TLL). In this seminar, preservice teachers create or enhance experimental stations on a given topic, like optics, electrodynamics or energy. Afterwards they teach several classes on their station, reflect their teaching with their fellow students and get feedback from experts. To improve the reflection, half of the preservice teachers will be filmed during the teaching to make a specific video analysis after each visit of a school class. With the reference to the categories of professionalization (Shulman 1987), the study focuses on the pedagogical knowledge and especially on the development of the professional vision (PV) of preservice teachers in the TLL. The PV will be measured with the online tool Observer in a pre – post – design. With this setting, it is possible to compare the development of the PV between the video – group and the non – video – group and a control group filled with students who will not join the seminar.

The teaching – learning – lab seminar

The teaching-learning-lab was implemented in the education of physics teachers at the University of Würzburg in 2009. The main idea of this lab is on the one hand to promote the practical experience of the preservice teachers and on the other hand to offer experimental training for students from schools. In this course, preservice teachers can use their content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge to prepare experimental stations to a certain subject from the Bavarian curriculum, like optics, electrodynamics or energy. In doing so, they can implement the physics they learned in lectures and use their didactical knowledge to select matching experiments and create experimental instructions for students. The TLL seminar takes place in the sixth semester so the preservice teachers have certain preconditions in experimental experience, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge.

The Phase of Preparation (10 weeks) In the first part of the seminar, the preservice teachers have to apply the basic physics and setup or modify the experiments and the instruction materials on iPads. Besides, they have to simplify the physics for the students and discuss teaching strategies. There will be about ten stations and 20 preservice teachers, so there are two preservice teachers responsible for one station.

The Phase of Practice (5 weeks) After the phase of preparation, four to five school classes will be taught in small groups (3 – 4 students in one group) on the experimental stations for about 15 minutes in a microteaching setting (see Fig. 1). One of the two preservice teachers at a station will teach and the other one will observe the teaching act. After every teaching act the students will switch to another station and the teachers will rotate from observing to teaching and vice versa. After every visit the preservice teachers discuss their teaching with their fellow students and with their

instructors. Afterwards they have the opportunity to improve their experiments or instructions until the next class is coming. To receive a precise response on their performance, half of the preservice teachers will be filmed. The video clips will be used to point out specific situations during the lesson in order to support or generate a discussion during the video analyses.

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Figure 1: Pupils working at an experimental station. In the background are the preservice teacher and the instructor.

To sum up, the TLL-seminar has a long phase of preparation followed by the first teaching act and a reflection afterwards. With the possibility to optimize the experiments after the first reflection, preservice teachers will start with a short preparation followed by the second unit and the second reflection. This will be repeated four times so the TLL-seminar provides the opportunity to try different ways of teaching, to enhance their teaching and to practice the way to observe, to reflect and to analyse.

Professional Vision

The teaching profession includes a wide range of competences, a teacher has to handle with to provide suitable learning environments, to react on special situations during their teaching and to reflect the teaching to improve their own procedures. Shulman (1987) classified the competences in content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Professional vision relates to the pedagogical knowledge. PV describes the ability of a teacher to notice and interpret relevant classroom events. (van Es & Sherin, 2002) It refers to the knowledge of teaching and learning components (Sherin & van Es, 2009) and the application of this knowledge during the observation. (Stürmer et al. 2013) This work concentrates on three components which are relevant for students learning (Seidel and Shavelson 2007) and can be observed in the TLL seminar. The components are goal clarity, teacher support and learning climate. Goal clarity The goal clarity contains the clear formulation of learning goals at the beginning of a lesson and a reference to this goals during the lesson. It also provides a communication of the structure of a lesson and gives orientation for the students. With the communication of the goals, the students are able to concentrate on the relevant aspects they have to learn. The students are able to connect the new aspects with their previous knowledge, with their everyday experiences and they are able to connect the aspects in a wider range. They can check for themselves whether they reached the learning goals or not (Herweg, 2008).

Teacher support The Teacher support describes the attendance of a teacher during the learning process of a student. It contains the interaction between a student and a teacher. The teacher support is subserved if the questions from a teacher, the reaction of an input of a student or the feedback of a students work support the learning process. The teacher support also contains the ability of a teacher to activate the students to work and to control their work independently (Helmke 2009, Seidel & Shavelson, 2007).

Learning climate The learning climate supports the learning process, if the interaction between the teacher and the student is based on fairness and geniality. You can see a positive learning climate, if the students dare to participate actively in the learning process and when the students get the impression that mistakes are a tolerated part of the learning process. Furthermore, accomplished mistakes lead to intrinsic motivation. Besides this, the right portion of

humor leads to a positive social interaction and a good learning climate. (Seidel & Prenzel, 2003; Helmke 2009; Meyer, 2004) The relevance of the three components for the motivation in a learning process On the basis of Self-determination-theory (Ryan, Deci; 2002), it has been shown that goal clarity, teacher support and learning climate are important teaching and learning components to foster competence, autonomy and social relatedness which leads to motivation and a positive learning process over time. Especially goal Page | 125 clarity effects that the students are motivated in their learning process (Seidel, Rimmele, & Prenzel, 2005) and teacher support correlates positively with intrinsic motivation and the development of interests (Seidel, Rimmele, & Prenzel, 2003). Furthermore, learning climate correlates positively with social relatedness and finally with learning motivation (Prenzel, Seidel, et al., 2002). The PV consists of two components: The Noticing and the Knowledge-based Reasoning (see Fig. 2) (Sherin, van Es, 2009). The Noticing describes the ability of a teacher to link their attention to an interesting classroom event. The reasoning describes the ability to apply the knowledge about the teaching and learning components in order to interpret the observed events. It has been shown that the reasoning can be subdivided in three dimensions: Description, Explanation and Prediction. (Sherin & van Es, 2009) The dimension of Description explains to describe an observed situation correctly. It means that the aspects of a teaching and learning component will be used for the correct description without making any judgements. If the teachers want to explain or reason the observed situation the correct way, they have to use their knowledge about the teaching and learning components to judge the situation. The dimension of Prediction explains the ability to use the teaching and learning components to predict consequences of an observed situation. (Seidel & Stürmer, 2014)

Figure 2. The dimensions of the PV with the teaching and learning components and the three dimensions of the Knowledge- based Reasoning (Seidel & Stürmer, 2014)

Research interest

It has been shown that the ability of preservice students to describe or especially to predict an observed event is compared to an experienced teacher lower (Seidel & Prenzel, 2007). It seems to be hard for them to transfer the theoretical knowledge of the teaching and learning components to a classroom situation (Santagata & Angelici, 2010; Star & Strickland, 2008; van Es & Sherin, 2002). Nevertheless it is possible to learn the ability to analyse observed events if preservice teachers know the teaching and learning components and train to analyse (Berliner, et al., 1988). Especially in seminars, where preservice teachers analyse video clips of lessons, the PV will improve (Santagata & Guarino 2011; Star, Strickland 2008). Finally, it has been shown that a combination of a video based seminar with a practical experience in schools also foster the PV of preservice teachers (Stürmer, Seidel & Schäfer; 2013). Considering these studies, the question arises if the TLL-Seminar with the alternating phases of preparation, practice and reflection and with additional video-analyses is able to foster the PV of the preservice teachers. Hence, there are two research questions:

1. Is there an increase of the PV of preservice teachers after the participation of the TLL-seminar? 2. Is there an increase of the PV of preservice teachers due to additional video analyses during the phase of practice?

Research design

The research focuses on the development of PV of preservice physics teachers who participate in the TLL- Page | 126 seminar at the University of Würzburg. The PV will be measured with the online based Observer tool which will be explained in the next chapter in a pre-post-design. The seminar starts with the phase of preparation where the preservice teachers create experimental stations and the instruction manuals for the students. Afterwards the students will teach 4-5 school classes in a microteaching design and get feedback after every visit. Half of the students will be filmed during their teaching in order to make video analyses after each visit (four additional meetings). In this meetings the preservice teachers discuss relevant video clips of their own teaching or of the teaching of a fellow student based on the three teaching and learning components. The video clips will be prepared from the instructor of the video analyses. Because of the many impressions the preservice teachers will be confronted with by watching the videos, they will discuss one teaching and learning component per meeting. In the last meeting there will be a repetition of all components. With this setting, there are three groups which can be compared: the video-group, the non-video-group and a control-group with students from the same semester who will not join the seminar (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The research design

The Observer – Tool

The PV of preservice teachers will be measured with the online based Observer Tool (see Fig. 4) (Seidel, et al., 2010). This tool consists of six video clips (each two to five minutes), which show the subjects math (two times), physics (two times), French and history. Each video clip contain two of the three teaching and learning components and all dimensions of the reasoning. After every video, the preservice teachers have to rate 36 items based on a 4-point Lickert scale ranging from disagree to agree with an additional opportunity “I don’t know”. Overall there are 216 items to rate. The result will be compared with an expert norm so the preservice teachers get one point for the right answer and zero points for the wrong answer.

Outlook

The whole study will include 90 preservice teachers. The study started with the summer semester 2015 and will be finished in spring 2017. 18 preservice teachers joined the TLL-seminar in the summer semester 2015 and were split in the video and non-video group randomly. The data of the post-test is not already prepared, so no

results can be shown. But the discussions of the reflections and the feedback of the video analyses showed, that the preservice teachers rated the analyses as an unfamiliar but also exciting and effective experience to discuss and rate special video clips with their fellow students, a sensitization for PV can be expected.

Page | 127

Figure 4. The Observer-Tool with a picture of a video and the Items referring to the teaching and learning component “goal clarity” and referring to the three dimensions of the reasoning (http://bien-edu.net/wp- content/uploads/2014/05/2014_05_08_BIEN_Seidel.pdf)

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Affiliation and address information Florian Treisch Page | 129 Didaktikzentrum MIND University of Würzburg Emil-Hilb-Weg 22 97074 Würzburg Germany e-mail: [email protected]

Teachers` Inquiry and Assessment Skills Developed within In-Service Teacher Training Course

Marián Kireš, Zuzana Ješková Institute of Physics, Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia

Page | 130 Abstract The main focus of the FP7 project SAILS (www.sails-project.eu) is on teacher education programmes (TEP) and the assessment strategies for IBSE. The execution of the project involved the participation of three cohorts of teachers, with a new cohort recruited every year. As a consequence of the development and trialling of TEPs for the first two cohorts, the national in-service TEP on IBSE and Assessment for the final cohort (Cohort 3) in Slovakia has been developed as 40 hours (five face to face meetings) course with on-line support by Moodle. The collective efforts of the SAILS project offers partners a wide collection of IBSE materials, resources for learning and case studies from school practice, for use in national TEPs. Cohort 3 begins training with IBSE units with fully integrated assessment frameworks. In-service training was aimed at developing the teachers` own inquiry skills, equal to those in the selected student activities, .i.e., teachers are mostly in the position of students during the training. In this contribution we would like to report the approach to implementing the SAILS TEP in Slovakia. The participating teacher’s primary motivation for learning was related to their own school projects which focused on innovation of science education. Training is part of teacher’s lifelong learning and is accredited under the national strategy for further teacher education. An essential part of the training was devoted to the development of inquiry skills through inquiry-based activities and assessment strategies developed in SAILS project. Each activity was piloted in Slovak schools by the educators before the course and classroom experiences were captured in the form of students` worksheets which were used for analysis during the workshops. The content of the materials used; with identified inquiry skills were different from the traditional approach. This difference could explain why we encountered difficulties with teachers especially in following skills: questioning, formulate hypotheses, plan investigation focusing on hypotheses confirmation and argumentation. As part of the training sessions, teachers engaged in practical activities focussed on the use of selected inquiry materials with assessment tools and these were followed by home assignments. After the course, each participating teacher created an inquiry and assessment oriented thesis, which must be defended in front of a committee. This will present an analysis of the course materials used, the level of inquiry and assessment skills that teachers gained to support inquiry in school practice and selected final teacher thesis ideas.

Keywords In-service teacher training, inquiry and assessment skills

Introduction

The main focus of the FP7 project SAILS (www.sails-project.eu) is on teacher education programmes (TEP) and the assessment strategies for IBSE. The execution of the project involves the participation of teachers at TEP aimed at IBSE with integration of assessment tools. The TEP model developed within SAILS project has been implemented in different national educational environments of project partner countries. In Slovakia, the reform of educational system in 2008 started a lot of changes that influenced the education. In science education, in particular, there is the development of competencies and inquiry abilities emphasized as well as the use of interactive methods and implementation of formative assessment in the classroom. Considering the reform key ideas, the previously dominant content-based science education should be shifted towards more inquiry-based education (IBSE). However, currently, there are many obstacles that make the real implementation of IBSE difficult. Firstly, the number of compulsory lessons on science decreased dramatically and moreover, the number of students in the class is too high in order to conduct inquiry activities. Secondly, there is a lack of equipment for experimental activities. Finally, the innovative goals of science education require also different methods to be implemented in the classroom. Nevertheless, the teacher is still the key component of education and so that his professional development is one of the most important assumptions in order to fulfil new educational goals.

Teachers` motivation to TEP in Slovakia

Hand in hand with the reform there was a new system of teachers´ professional development implemented in Slovakia. There is a wide collection of accredited teacher training courses offered by different institutions to

teachers to participate and teachers are awarded credits for successful course completion. Consequently, the credits award impacts to teachers´ salaries. As a result, many teachers apply and participate in different courses. For successful course completion there is always an active participation required. Teachers are expected to prepare a final presentation showing the products created within the course such like teaching materials for students or teachers, evaluation on the impact of selected method or strategy used in their classroom, etc. In the first years, as a result of mainly external motivation of teachers to collect many credits, there were a huge amount of teachers participating in all kind of courses. Nowadays, teachers select courses more carefully in order Page | 131 to get high-quality education and to develop skills and abilities that teachers really need to be developed. In accordance with the reform goals in science education there is an increasing demand towards courses aimed at IBSE and its assessment.

Implementation of Inquiry based science education into TEP

Within the 7fp ESTABLISH project (http://www.establish-fp7.eu) aimed at wide implementation of IBSE across European countries there was a collection of teaching materials designed and trailed in secondary school classrooms. There was also a teacher education programme on IBSE developed. The 7fp SAILS project (http://www.sails-project.eu) main goal is to support teachers in adopting an inquiry approach in teaching science at secondary level and to develop appropriate strategies and frameworks for the assessment of IBSE skills and competences. As a result of a long-term international cooperation within these projects, the model of teacher education programme has been developed. There are three key and five additional elements included in the programme (fig.1). Each project partner country has implemented the teacher education programme in its own national environment. In Slovakia, the model has been implemented as a five-day teacher training programme in the extent of 40 hours. The present part has been enriched with 25 hours of additional distant part aimed at home assignments required after each training day. At the end of the course teachers are expected to present a design of an inquiry activity complemented with assessment tools in front of a 3-member board. The inquiry activities developed by teachers are then available for all the participating teachers. The key elements of TEP are (fig.1): 1. Experiencing inquiry and assessment 2. Trialling IBSE and assessment in the classroom 3. Developing IBSE and assessment resources The additional elements of TEP involve:  Facilitating and assessing group work  Developing assessment criteria and/or learning progression  Facilitating and assessing student argumentation  Providing students with productive feedback  Using ICT in assessment.

Figure 1. TEP elements

The key and additional elements of SAILS TEP model are reflected in the programme the following way. Element 1: Experiencing inquiry and assessment Teachers participating in the training are presented examples of IBSE activities. Teachers conduct inquiry activities at different levels of inquiry in a role of a student. The activities are analysed and discussed from the point of their implementation in the classroom. There are exemplary inquiry activities enhanced with assessment

tools. Based on the concrete example of assessment tools teachers develop assessment tools for selected inquiry activities. The corresponding home assignment requires adopting an existing activity that teachers conduct with their students into more inquiry activity and designing appropriate assessment tools. There is a number of inquiry activities aimed at different topics available for teachers. Element 2: Trialling IBSE and assessment in the classroom Teachers get first experience with inquiry and assessment in the role of a student. Following this, teachers Page | 132 participating in the course are strongly encouraged to trial inquiry activity in the classroom. They can implement either exemplary IBSE activity or an activity developed by teachers. They are expected also to get experience from the implementation of assessment tools. Their experience is then discussed within the face-to–face meetings. Teachers from the same school are encouraged to cooperate within their own school and they are offered help in sharing teaching materials and technical equipment. Element 3: Developing IBSE and assessment resources: There is a number of inquiry activities available for teachers that have been developed within the ESTABLISH or SAILS projects. Within the course, there are new teaching materials developed by teachers. All these materials are available through on-line Moodle platform for teachers to use in the classroom. The additional elements are reflected in teacher training course in different activities aimed at: - group work as one of the forms of instruction - development of assessment tools for assessing inquiry skills and group work - formative assessment tools - e-voting system as a mean to help to get fast feedback about learning progress.

Inquiry skills

Teachers working within TEP are expected to analyse and prepare an inquiry activity complemented with assessment tools. While doing this, teachers must be aware of what inquiry skills are developed within the activity and what skills are going to be assessed and how. For analysing the existing activity or developing a new activity focusing on selected inquiry skills there can be a model of inquiry skills used. Among many models we have used the modified inventory of students´ inquiry skills for this purpose (Tamir & Lunetta, 1981, Fradd, 2001, Berg, 2013). The inventory that follows the inquiry cycle is suitable for analysing and developing experimental inquiry activities.

Table 1. Inventory of students´ inquiry skills (Tamir & Lunetta, 1981, Fradd, 2001, Berg, 2013)

1. CONCEPTION, PLANNING AND DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT 1.1 Formulate a question, define a problem 1.2 Formulate hypothesis or expectation to be tested 1.3 Design experiment (which variables, which relationship) 1.4 Design observation and/or measurement procedures (incl. lab-apparatus selection; experiment set-up) for each variable. 1.5 Predict results of experiment 2. REALISATION/ IMPLEMENTATION 2.1 Manipulate apparatus/software 2.2 Observe/ measure 2.3 Calculate during the execution 2.4 Record results 2.5 Explains or makes decisions about experimental techniques 2.6 Work according to own design 3. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 3.1 Transform results into standard form (i.e. tables, graphs) 3.2 Determine qualitative and quantitative relationships 3.3 Determine accuracy of experimental data 3.4 Compare experimental data to the hypothesis/ expectation 3.5 Discuss limitations/assumptions of the experiment 3.6 Propose generalizations of experiment results 3.7 Explain relationships 3.8 Formulate new questions/ problems 4. SHARING AND PRESENTATION 4.1 Share and present results in front of peers 4.2 Discuss/ forming arguments 4.3 Develop formal report about results

5. APPLICATIONS AND FOLLOW-UP 5.1 Predict on basis of obtained results 5.2 Formulates hypotheses for follow-up 5.3 Apply experimental technique to a new problem

Page | 133 We have collected a number of activities that we organize according to the inquiry skills that they are focusing on (fig.2). The activities organized in a table enable teachers to search for the activity that fulfil their criteria, i.e. the topic, inquiry skill dominantly developed and also inquiry level (either teachers or students dominantly performing the selected step in the inquiry cycle). All these activities are available for teachers to use on the online Moodle platform.

Figure 2. List of selected IBSE activities related to IBSE steps and selected skills (T stands for teachers, S for students)

Formative assessment tools in IBSE

The successful implementation of IBSE in the science education is strongly connected with the assessment of IBSE. The assessment strategies emerge from the main goals of IBSE, i.e. development of conceptual understanding and inquiry skills. For this purpose the formative assessment tools can play an important role (Harlen, 2003). When assessing conceptual understanding formatively, there can be self-assessment tools used, e.g. self- evaluation student card (tab. 2) or a sheet to fill in leaving the classroom (tab. 3). These tools can be used at the end of an activity to answer by students individually. Using the tool student reflects on his own achievements and level of his progress. Based on the students´ reflection on their own work teacher can change or modify his instructions.

Table 2. Self-evaluation student card Questions Answers What did we do? Why do we do that? What have we learned today? Where can we use it? I still have next questions:

Table 3. Sheet to fill in leaving the classroom

Number Write comments after lesson Answers

3 Today I have learned

2 I’m most impressed 1 Question, that I still have

Assessing conceptual understanding we recommend teachers to use evaluation of students´ worksheets and reports, mind maps or conceptual tests. The example of conceptual test question on Archimedes principle understanding can look the following way: The Styrofoam cup is submerged into a glass with water. The cup is floating. What happens if we pour water in the Styrofoam cup up to the upper edge of the cup? a) the Styrofoam cup sinks to the bottom of the glass b) the Styrofoam cup sinks up to its upper edge Page | 134 c) a small part of Styrofoam cup will be above the glass water level d) the Styrofoam cup is floating inside the glass of water The entirely new problem when implementing and assessing IBSE in Slovakia concerns the inquiry skills. Teachers do not have experience with their assessing. When working with teachers in TEP, teachers are expected to formulate questions that can be asked students in order to help them to perform the activity and develop certain inquiry skill. They define criteria for the levels of a certain skill that fall in one of the following categories (rubrics), e.g. unacceptable, weak, improvement required, suitable (tab.4).

Table 4. Example of Planning the investigation skill with possible questions and levels of performance (McLoughlin, 2014)

Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 4 Helpful questions: improvement unacceptable weak suitable required How can the The student is The student gives The student gives The student gives experiment be unable to give recommendations recommendations recommendations implemented? Which recommendations on how the on how the on how the physical variable on how experiment experiment should experiment should experiment should be studied? should be done be carried out, but be carried out and should be carried How can connection be is unable to proceed understands the out and found between and does not process, but is understands the variables? What can understand the unable to proceed. process, can you do in order to process. proceed with the accurately fix the planning of the measurements? More experiment. exact questions in teacher support.

For the purpose of students´ self-assessment, there can be a self-evaluation card used. The card is filled in just after the activity. Teacher provides the list of skills that students were expected to develop within the activity. Students then select from the levels: with significant help, with help, autonomously. In table 5 there is an example of self-evaluation card for the activity Floating objects (tab.5).

Table 5. Self-evaluation student card Evaluate the results of your work: Submersion of an object with with After the measurements I’m able to do... significant autonomously help help To determine the magnitude of total force acting on

submerged object. To record time dependence of total force acting during submerging an object with density higher than water density. To record time dependence of total force acting during submerging an object with density equal to water density. To record time dependence of total force acting during submerging an object with density lower than water density. To explain difference between total forces acting on submerging body suspended on hard or soft suspender.

For assessing inquiry skills there can be test questions from standardized tests of inquiry skills used, e.g. TIPS (Test of Integrated Science Process Skills, Burns at all), TOSLS (Test of Scientific Literacy Skills, Gormally at all, 2012), ScInqLiT (Scientific Inquiry Literacy Test, Wenning, 2007). The example is aimed at assessing skill connected to the accuracy of experimental data. A student is collecting data about how the voltage of a battery changes over several weeks. The same equipment was used during the experiment, and there are no changes in the set up. On week 17, the data are plotted on a Page | 135 graph (Fig. 3). A “blip” appears for week 9 when the voltage recorded is much higher than expected. How could one best explain this “blip” in the data? A) Something was wrong with the data collection process during week 9. B) The voltage provided by the battery suddenly “surged” or “spiked.” C) There was test equipment failure during week 9. D) There was no “control” battery in this experiment. E) None of above

Figure 3. Example of inquiry test question (ScInqLiT, Wenning, 2007)

Teachers after TEP In TEP there were altogether 30 teachers participating. They all answered pre and post-questionnaires about IBSE and assessment. Participating teachers had from 11 to 20 years of teaching experience. In the picture there is a result of questionnaire item with the statement: I have a comprehensive understanding of the nature of assessment in an inquiry classroom. Teachers expressed their level of agreement in five level scale: 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-uncertain, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree, with this statement before the course and after completing the course (fig.4, 5, 6).

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 1 2 3 4 5

Before After

Figure 4. Teachers´ level of agreement with the statement I have a comprehensive understanding of inquiry-based science education

25 20 15 10 5 Page | 136 0 1 2 3 4 5

Pred Po

Figure 5. Teachers´ level of agreement with the statement I have a comprehensive understanding of the nature of assessment in an inquiry classroom

20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Before After

Figure 6. Teachers´ level of agreement with the statement In an inquiry classroom I can easily highlight strengths and weaknesses of a particular students` work

It can be seen that there is a significant shift towards better understanding of the nature of IBSE assessment. However, there can be still seen some uncertainty about the topic. Teachers must deal with the assessment more deeply implementing it in the classroom in order to be more confident in this field.

Conclusions

The teacher education programme that has been successfully implemented was focused on IBSE and introducing IBSE assessment. The assessment part was aimed at assessing conceptual understanding as well as inquiry skills development. Teacher while participating in TEP played several roles. Firstly, teacher in a role of a student experience inquiry. Then teacher as an implementer conduct inquiry activity in the classroom and trial selected assessment tools. Finally, teacher as a developer develops his own inquiry activities and also designs appropriate assessment tools. Nevertheless, even after the course completion, teachers are still at the beginning and they need time to get to the level of experienced and confident implementer of IBSE and assessment. In order to provide maximum support for teachers, there is an ongoing online Moodle platform with all the supporting materials available. The positive fact is that there are schools with more than one teacher who participated in TEP on IBSE and assessment. This way the educated teachers can cooperate and support each other and in addition, they can also influence their colleagues towards more inquiry approach and the use of inquiry assessment techniques.

Acknowledgement This work is the result of the international SAILS (FP7/2012-2015 under grant agreement n°289085) and Slovak research and development agency grant VEMIV (Research on the efficiency of innovative teaching methods in mathematics, physics and informatics education) APVV-0715-12.

References Burns, J.C., Okey, J.R., Wise, K., C. (1985). Development of an integrated process skill test: TIPS II. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1984, vol. 22, no. 2, 169-177 Fradd, S.H., Lee, O., Sutman, F., X., Saxton, M. K. (2001). Promoting! Science literacy with English language learners through instructional materials development: A case study. Bilingual Research Journal, 25 (4), 417-439. Gormally, C., Brickman, P., Lutz, M. (2012). Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS): Measuring Undergraduates’ Evaluation of Scientific Information and Arguments. CBE - Life Sciences Education, 2012. vol. 11, Winter 2012, 364 – 377.

Harlen, W. (2003) Enhancing inquiry through formative assessment. Exploratorium, San Francisco, USA, ISBN 0-943451- 57-4 Linn, M., C., Davis E., A. & Bell, P. (2004). Internet Environments for Science Education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, available online on McLoughlin, E. (2014). Models for teacher education and assessment of skills in Inquiry Based Science Education, invited talk at GIREP-MPTL 2014 international conference, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 7-12 July 2014, available online on Page | 137 Tamir, P., Lunetta, V., N. (1981). Inquiry-Related Tasks in High School Science Laboratory Handbooks, Science Education, 1981, vol. 65, Issue 5, 477-484 Van den Berg, E. (2013). The PCK of Laboratory Teaching: Turning Manipulation of Equipment into Manipulation of Ideas, Scientia in educatione 4(2), 74-92, available online on Wenning, C. (2005). Levels of inquiry: Hierarchies of pedagogical practices and inquiry processes, Journal of Physics Teacher Education online, 5(2), 2005, 3-16, available online on Wenning, C. J. 2007. Assessing inquiry skills as a component of scientific literacy. Journal of Physics Teacher Education Online, 2007. vol. 4, no. 2, Winter 2007, 21 – 24, available online on

Affiliation and address information Marian Kireš, Zuzana Ješková Institute of Physics Faculty of Science Pavol Jozef Safarik University Šrobárova 2 040 01 Kosice, Slovakia e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

The Position of Experiments in Grammar School Students’ Semantic Space

Petr Kácovský Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Czech Republic

Abstract Page | 138 The contribution describes a study dealing with students’ attitudes towards physics experiments and other concepts related mainly to physics teaching and learning. Almost 500 Czech grammar school students aged from 16 to 18 were asked to fill in a questionnaire based on semantic differential technique. This method (more often used in psychology than in educational researches) uses connotative meanings of words to explore respondents’ attitudes towards chosen concepts without formulating them explicitly and knowingly.

Keywords Experiment, connotative meanings, grammar school students, physics, semantic differential, semantic space

Introduction and goal

As physics teachers, we often emphasize the importance of experiments in science teaching and learning and hope that experiments can, among others, help our students to join school facts with real life, with everyday experience; ultimately, they can make our lessons more diverse and attractive. However, do our students share these feelings? The goal of the research described below was to look at perception of experiments through students’ eyes.

Students’ attitudes towards experiments in previous studies

A lot of work has been done concerning students’ attitudes towards physics as a school subject – at random we can mention researches conducted by [Woolnough, 1994], [Osborne, Driver and Simon, 1998], [Reid and Skryabina, 2002] or [Kaya and Böyük, 2011]; the exhaustive list of previous works offer [Osborne, Simon and Collins, 2003]. Anyway, the topic is probably perceived as very attractive for educational researchers while the amount of related literature is really huge. Studies which directly focus on attitudes regarding physics experiments are much scarcer. A great summary was published by [Owen et al., 2008], who compare different learning activities and their attractiveness for British secondary school students; they state that the most useful and popular are experiments when performed by students themselves, while writing exercises and copying notes appear at the opposite end of the scale.

Research methodology

The study was designed as a quantitative study with about 500 respondents expected and its administration in the lessons was connected with another research activity – with the CTCE post-test [Kacovsky, 2015] which is a part of a much larger research dealing with conceptual understanding of thermal phenomena. As a research method, the semantic differential technique originated from [Osgood, 1957] was chosen. This method, which is popular mainly in psychology, uses connotative meanings of words to measure respondents’ attitudes towards them.

Sample of students In the period from February 2014 to March 2015, students from 18 randomly chosen Czech grammar schools were asked to participate in this study; the age of respondents varied between 16 and 18 years. Finally, in total 495 students from 24 different classes were involved in the research.

Research tool A typical questionnaire based on semantic differential technique consists of several concepts (which should be assessed by students) and bipolar scales of adjectives that enable the assessment. According to the goal of the research as well as previous studies in the Czech environment [Pöschl, 2005], 14 words were chosen to be placed in the students’ semantic space.

The central concepts of this research were the words experiment and physics; the other investigated terms were chemistry, discovery, entertainment, experience, freedom, job, I myself, reality, science, surprise, teacher and truth. Students should place each of these 14 words on eight following bipolar scales: useful–useless, distant–

close, interesting–boring, difficult–easy, relaxed–tense, heavy–light, logical–illogical and problematic–smooth; each scale had seven steps. Figure 1 shows an example of tables designed to record students’ choice – concretely in the case of concepts entertainment and experience.

Page | 139

Figure 1. An example of completed tables with bipolar scales (for concepts entertainment and experience) Respondents had quite a short time to complete all 14 tables – not more than 15 minutes. This is fully consistent with the idea of semantic differential technique which (to study connotative meanings) requires immediate, spontaneous students’ reactions without long decision making.

Results of the research The semantic differential technique generates a great amount of statistical data to analyse; there is a lot of correlations that can be found. It is not an aim of this contribution to explore these relations in detail because the data evaluation is still in progress; however, general findings are summarized below.

Particular scales of the semantic space Ordering of the studied concepts on every scale represents the simplest output from the obtained data – such a summary is shown in the Table 1 (while they are not useful for further text, the numerical data are excluded). The higher the concept in the column is, the “more positively” is it perceived (more useful, closer, more interesting etc.). The Table 1 shows that the assessment of the concept experiment is average in the majority of the scales; in comparison with other words, experiment is perceived as quite interesting and logical, on the other hand, students are not certain of its helpfulness. On four from eight scales the word experiment adjoins the word teacher which may show that students strongly associate experiments with the school environment. Physics and chemistry often reach similar scores and belong to terms perceived as difficult, boring, problematic and rather useless; physics is considered to be logical. Students’ view of the concept entertainment dominating on six of the scales is very uncritical; the word experience also has very positive connotations. Eventually, when assessing themselves, students feel non- problematic, but quite boring and useless. Table 1. The position of concepts on particular scales, axes of the semantic space

experience entertainment entertainment entertainment job experience discovery surprise

freedom science experiment freedom

→

discovery I myself surprise I myself → → science experiment freedom → experience truth teacher experience teacher easy easy

close

useful –

entertainment – truth science experiment – interesting interesting

experiment physics – truth reality teacher freedom job job useless useless reality reality reality truth ← difficult ← distant ← physics surprise I myself discovery ← boring surprise chemistry physics physics I myself discovery chemistry chemistry chemistry job teacher science

entertainment entertainment science entertainment experience freedom physics I myself

science surprise experiment surprise

→

I myself I myself experience freedom → →

experiment → teacher job experience

teacher experience discovery smooth teacher

– light light logical logical Page | 140 truth experiment teacher job – – relaxed relaxed

– physics job truth experiment freedom reality chemistry discovery reality truth freedom truth ← heavy ← tense surprise discovery ← illogical I myself science chemistry physics reality ← problematic physics discovery chemistry entertainment reality job science surprise chemistry

Distance measuring in the semantic space The semantic differential technique offers the possibility to measure distances between particular words in the semantic space; simply speaking, greater distance of two terms indicates that these are perceived more differently by students. This approach uses simple Euclidean metrics as known from n-dimensional Euclidean spaces. If the assessment of two studied words differs by the number di on the scale si, we can define the distance n D (also known as D-coefficient) between concepts A and B as D  (d )2 , where n stands for the AB AB s 1 i i number of scales (eight in our case). To illustrate mutual semantic distances between concepts, D-coefficient can be ordered to a D-matrix – see Figure 2.

Figure 2. D-matrix for studied concepts; higher numbers stand for longer semantic distance

Figure 2 shows the really exclusive position of the word entertainment as very uncritically perceived concept which is semantically quite far from all other words. Science, chemistry and physics are in the semantic space farthest from the words entertainment, freedom and surprise. The central concept – experiment – is located close to the words discovery, job and experience and very far from entertainment; its other distances from other concepts are average and do not give any information to be straightforwardly interpreted.

Conclusions

The research administered in the Czech Republic on the sample of almost 500 grammar school students provides several basic results:  The word experiment is perceived quite positively, but it is distant from both the words physics and chemistry. The closest word in the semantic space is discovery, the furthest are entertainment and chemistry.  Physics and chemistry reach similar scores on many scales; students see them as difficult, problematic, boring and useless.

 Through students’ eyes, science seems to be the most difficult of all chosen words; on the other hand it is much more interesting and useful in comparison with physics and chemistry.  Entertainment has a very exclusive position in the semantic space as a concept perceived unilaterally positively.

While the study was conducted using a semantic differential technique which generates a large amount of data, Page | 141 the statements mentioned above represent only the first general results. Nowadays, the received data undergo a much more detailed analysis to look for possible connections and correlations between students’ attitudes and their understanding of thermal phenomena, i.e. their scores reached in the CTCE test. The results of this analysis should help to answer more difficult and more complex questions such as: Why do students not link experiments with science, physics and chemistry more closely? Why is the term experiment so close to teacher? Is experiment for students who like physics in the same place in the semantic space as for those who dislike physics?

References Kacovsky, P. (2015). Grammar school students’ misconceptions concerning thermal phenomena, Journal of Baltic Science Education, 14 (2), 194–206. Kaya, H. and Böyük, U. (2011). Attitudes Towards Physics Lessons and Physical Experiments of the High School Students, European Journal of Science Education, 2 (1), 38–49. Osborne, J., Driver, R. and Simon, S. (1998). Attitudes to science: issues and concerns, School Science Review 78, 27–33. Osborne, J., Simon, S. and Collins, S. (2003). Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications, International Journal of Science Education 25 (9), 1049–1079. Osgood, Ch. (1964). Semantic differential technique in the Comparative Study of Cultures, American Anthropologist, 66 (3), 1714–200. Osgood, Ch., Suci, G. J. and Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning, Urbana, University of Illinois Press, U.S. Owen, S., Dickson, D., Stanisstreet, M. and Boyes, E. (2008). Teaching physics: Students’ attitudes towards different learning activities. Research in Science and Technological Education 26 (2), 113–128. Pöschl, R. (2005). Vnímání významu matematiky a fyziky středoškolskými studenty (diploma thesis), Praha, MFF UK, Czech Republic. Reid, N. and Skryabina, E. A. (2002). Attitudes towards Physics, Research in Science and Technological Education 20 (1), 67–81. Woolnough, B. (1994). Why students’ choose physics, or reject it, Physics Education 29, 368–374.

Affiliation and address information Petr Kacovsky Department of Physics Education Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University in Prague V Holešovičkách 2 180 00 Praha 8 Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

Teaching Physics to Non Physicist: Physics for Agricultural, Biotech and Environmental Sciences

Marisa Michelini, Alberto Stefanel Physics Education Research Unit, DCFA, University of Udine, Italy

Page | 142 Abstract Physics is a basic discipline for all sciences and therefore included in the university scientific degrees. The research problems are: to identify topic areas and meaningful contexts for each specific subject area in which the cultural value of physic emerged and is recognized; to use new technologies and lab activities to stimulate an active role of students in the construction of their learning and in the experimentation of the methods of physics. In the undergraduate degrees for Agricultural, Environmental and Nature Sciences, Science of Foods and Biotechnology at the University of Udine a physics course has been implemented, focused on topics such as the physics of fluids and examples taken from the wild, as contexts for introduction and building the concepts of physic. The learning outcomes were evaluated with a written questionnaire on fluids. The analysis of real situations in lab and the clickers sections help students to overcome main difficulties. Problematic areas for ¼ of students remained: Pascal principle; the static-dynamic passage; critical management of math.

Keywords Physics for life area, university students learning.

Introduction

Physics is a basic discipline for all science subjects and therefore included in all degrees of the scientific area. Nevertheless, both “non-physicist” students, and an increasing number of university professors of the scientific area do not seem to recognize the formative value of physics. This is also a result of errors made in the past. All students were taught physics in the same way, emphasizing the use of ideal models in ideal contexts (the material point, the floor without friction, the ideal gas), without giving sufficient attention to the modelling process and to the role that ideal models can have in the comprehension of everyday life phenomena (Michelini, Santi, Stefanel 2013; Michelini 2010). Moreover, the role that physics plays is different in different areas and therefore also its teaching must be adapted to the context in which it is proposed (Michelini 2010; Hoskinson et al. 2014). At university level, we can identify at least four major areas: physics for students of physics and mathematics degrees; the physics for engineers; the physics for the large and differentiated area of medicine, biology, natural sciences where you can also include other topics as agronomy and food science; the physics for the area of human science, as for instance philosophy, literature, history, art. In this paper, the third area will be considered. The research problems are: to identify topic areas and meaningful contexts for each specific subject area in which the value of a culture in physics emerges and is recognized (Cummings et al. 2004; Meredith, Redish 2013; O’Shea et al 2013); to use new technologies and lab to stimulate an active role of students in the construction of their learning (Hoskinson et al 2014). In the context of undergraduate courses for Agricultural Science and Technology, Environmental and Nature Sciences and Technology, Oenology, Biotechnology, at the University of Udine three parallel physics courses were implemented, focused on topics such as the physics of fluids and examples taken from the wild, medicine as contexts where the physics concepts can be introduced and built. Lab sections using on-line sensors, clickers sections for the personal involvement of students in the analysis of conceptual knots, problem solving sections for a functional understanding of concepts where proposed to students. The course of physics are framed within a project for didactic innovation in T/L at the University of Udine. The approach of the different topics starts from real phenomena and experiments to construct simple models based on physics principles. It will be exemplified in the case of the hydrodynamic of a river water, documenting also the learning outcomes.

Research questions The focus of the present work is on the following research questions: RQ1 – What role does the engagement of students play in the analysis of questions typically evidenced as learning problems? RQ2 – When students face these questions, which kind of reasoning they evidence?

RQ3 – What contents are more problematic for students learning?

The structure of the Physics courses for non physicist The three courses were designed and implemented in parallel during the period February-June 2015, as follow: BT- Physics course for the Biotechnology degree (3 c.t.s. – 30 h): N1= 46 students of the 1st year (teacher MM); AGNE-Physics for Agricultural, Science and Technology of Nature, Oenology degrees (6 c.t.s. – 60 h): st st Page | 143 N2 = 186 students of the 1 year (teacher AS); FST (6 c.t.s. – 60 h): N3 = 110 students of the 1 year (teacher AS). The topics treated in all the three courses were: Introduction to physics; Kinematic of motion; Translational dynamic; Work and energy; Oscillation and waves; Thermodynamics and electric and magnetic phenomena; Fluids in equilibrium and fluidodynamics. In the two courses AGNE and FST some topics were added: optics; 4 experimental lab sections, each of 2 hours; 10 hours of exercises and problems; a more extensive treatment of the thermodynamic module. In the BT course a part was devoted to dynamics of systems. The peculiar aspects, characterizing all the three courses, are the following:  The approach to the different topics starts from real phenomena, analysed in relevant contexts for natural, living sciences, where the physical principles find plausibility and areas for their translation /application in physical models.  Each lesson integrates: A) discussion of contents, adopting the approach described above, PPT presentation, demonstrative experiments, blackboard (45 minutes); B) exercises and problem solving, analysis of simple applications discussed on the topic faced (15 minutes).  Continuous assessment, in the context of the lessons, and through three intermediate written questionnaires, each of them concerning one of the three modules.

Figure 1. Two examples of clickers questions concerning the Pascal principle (elaborated from Loverude et al. 2010) and the hydrostatic force of air.

Specifically, the module on Fluids was organized as follows: 2 h - Physics of fluids in equilibrium (Fluid as continuous system that can flow, pressure concept and Pascal Principle, Stevin and Archimedes laws, density concept and its role in boyancy); 2 h - Dynamics of fluids (Flux and flux conservation equation, Bernoulli theorem); 2 h - Real fluids (concept of viscosity, Stokes force, Poiselle equation, capillarity, surface tension); 1 h problem and exercises. In the courses AGNE and FST, two hours of experimental lab was added, regarding viscosity studying the balls falling inside different liquids (water, oil, glycerine) and a clicker session (see fig. 1) was included in the lessons. The third module and the third questionnaire in the course BT was focalized on fluidodynamics. In the other two courses, fluids were included in the first and second modules and the questions were included in all the three intermediate questionnaires. Each question was proposed to the different groups of students using different forms: multiple choice questions with or without explanation; slightly differentiated implementation; open-ended questions. From the multiple choice questions we can obtain statistical data to compare the effectiveness of the approach in the different groups, to see the role of lab or clicker section (proposed only to AGNE and FST, but not to BT students). From open question and the explanation of the choices we obtained information on the students’ reasoning.

In the appendix we report the questions analysed here, as proposed in the form of multiple choice items. We were able to follow the students reasoning because the same questions were proposed to the BT students asking for a motivation of the choice. Moreover some students of AGNE and FST motivated their choice also when not explicitly requested.

The dynamic of the water flow in a “real” river Page | 144 The discussion of the dynamics of the water in a river included three steps: a) experimental analysis, by means of video analysis, of the motion of the water flow in a river; b) videoanalysis of the water flow in an open duct, made in the laboratory; c) modelling of the phenomenon. The first step is triggered by the question: How does the water of a river flow on a flat land? A first answer can be obtained by a video-analysis of the velocity of the water flow at a defined distance from the border of a real river (i.e the Arno river in Florence city as in fig.2). It turns out that this speed is constant and uniform, so it does not change over time and does not change at all points that are equidistant from the border. The question arises: Will the behaviour be the same at each distance? Repeating the measurement at different distances, it emerged that the speed at the border is very small (or null), it grows progressively towards the centre.

Figure 2. The picture reproduce a frame of the video of flow of the water in the Arno river in Florence. The segments indicated by the arrows are superposed to the images of the wood stick driven by the current. The length of the stick of wood was measured on the riverside and used to obtain the ratio: real length/screen length. The position of the piece of wood is measured with respect to the standing reference frame (in yellow) related to 8,17 s and 6,65 s.

On the base of this measure, at 16 m from the riverside of the Arno, the speed of the water is v16= 3,30,1 m/s, constant and uniform. At 0.8 m from the riverside, the speed is also constant and uniform, but his value is v0,8= 0,18 0,01 m/s. How does the speed of the water grow from the riverside to the centre of the river? One can assume that this rate will grow linearly from the side to the centre of the flow? To answer these questions, it is not enough to detect the speed of the water at different distances from the side. A more systematic measurements is needed. To simulate the river flow in lab, a simple experiment can be performed using a flat open pipe, where a controlled water flows is produced by a continuous source and the movement of the water is guaranteed by a longitudinal slope of the pipe. In that controlled condition, the analysis was carried out of the role of the parameters involved in the river flow (step b of the path). If the duct have a rectangular cross section and the flow is sufficiently slow, as it is obtained with a duct only weakly tilted, the water depth is the same over the entire cross section of the flow and also of a good part of the longitudinal section. In this condition, we would expect a velocity profile symmetrical with respect to the medial plane of the flow itself, depending only on the distance from the center of the flow. The depth of the water is not

important in determining the velocity profile being the same the influence on the different part of the flow. The water flow can be studied with a videoanalysis of the motion of flour or other bits of coloured powder thrown into the water. A parabolic profile of the velocity emerges by that analysis. To account this profile, a simple model is implemented, based on the law that defines the viscosity of a fluid (step c) and the experimental results obtained in the previous steps: the river water flows at a constant velocity; the speed is the same for a fixed distance from the riverside, where the speed is approximately 0. It can therefore Page | 145 assume that the flow of water is described as sliding of adjacent layers, assuming the boundary condition v=0 at the borders. This model is implemented at finite differences in an electronic worksheet. It allows to describe the time evolution of the speed of each layer. The time evolution of the speed of each layer has an exponential trend which tends asymptotically to a constant regime value (fig 3).

Figure 3. Implementation of the model: The flow of water divided in parallel layers each of them interacting with the adjacent layers, with a force proportional to opposite of the gradient of the velocity. The driven force is constant, due to the inclination of the duct and the action of the base of the duct that is the same being equal to the depth for each x. The graphs represent the time evolution of the velocity of each layer and evolution of the velocity profile of the flow tending to a parabolic profile as evidenced by the fit.

Analysis of students learning A first evaluation of the course was performed analysing the students’ answers to the questions included in the written questionnaires used as formative assessments. We are presenting the analysis of a set of questions concerning fluids. A quantitative analysis of multichoice questions was made, and a qualitative analysis of the motivation/explanation permitted to individuate pattern of resolution and pattern of reasoning. In table 1 there are resumed the questions analysed here and resumed in the appendix. To the item Q1, 48% of the sample gave the expected answer A), with the BT group markedly lower than the average. The few students explaining their choices evidenced a prevalent strategy, based on the dimensional analysis. The main difficulty in this case was the correct identification of the physical dimensions of the compressibility coefficient , although the item text made explicit its units. The few students, who have adopted the strategy of obtaining D from the  definition formula, met two types of problems: construction of the inverse formula; transformation of the volume change DV in density change D. 78% of the sample chosen the expected option A) to the item Q2, applying a strategy based on the definition of pressure to evaluate the force acting on the porthole: P = F/S (by definition) F=PS = 3105 * 0,1 = 3104. The

main difficulties were related to the definition of pressure, to derive the inverse formula, to calculate in scientific notation.

Table 1. Number and percentage of responses to questions Q1-Q8 (see appendix). In bold correct answers. BT (N1 = 46) AGNE (N2 =167) STF (N3=108) TOT (N= 321) n1 % n2 % n3 % n % Q1 A) 4 9 89 53 59 55 152 48 B) 16 35 45 27 24 22 85 26 Page | 146 C) 33 20 16 15 49 15

Na 26 57 9 8 35 11

Q2 A) 31 67 133 80 85 79 249 78 B) 10 22 29 17 19 18 58 18

C) 1 2 5 3 3 3 9 3

Na 4 9 1 1 5 2

BT (N1 = 46) AGNV (N2 =158) TOT (N= 204)

n1 % n2 % n % Q3 A) 2 4 46 29 48 24

B) 9 20 28 18 37 18

C) 32 70 84 53 116 57

Na 3 6 3 1

BT (N1 = 46) AGNV (N2 =158) STF (N3=99) TOT (N= 303) n1 % n2 % n3 % n % Q4 A) 2 5 28 18 13 13 43 14 B) 29 63 74 47 72 73 175 58

C) 2 4 46 29 8 8 56 18

Na 13 28 10 6 6 6 29 10

BT (N1 = 46) AGNV (N2 =120) STF (N3=92) TOT (N= 258) n1 % n2 % n3 % n % Q5 A) 3 7 29 24 7 8 39 15 B) 8 17 28 23 13 14 49 19

C) 17 37 59 49 71 77 147 57

Na 18 39 4 3 1 1 23 9

Q6 A) 2 4 6 5 0 0 8 3 B) 35 76 88 73 59 64 182 71

C) 1 2 25 21 32 35 58 22

Na 8 18 1 1 1 1 10 4

Q7 A) 31 68 75 63 72 78 178 69 B) 1 2 35 28 13 14 49 19

C) 1 2 8 7 5 6 14 5

Na 13 28 2 2 2 2 17 7

Q8 A) 1 2 10 8 9 10 20 8 B) 20 44 86 72 74 80 180 70

C) 4 9 22 18 8 9 34 13

Na 21 45 2 2 1 1 24 9

Concerning item Q3 (elaboration from Loverude et al. 2010), the expected answer C was given by 57 % of students following a reasoning linking Stevin law and Pascal principle (points at equal levelequal Pressure). The three main reasoning motivating answer B are based on: B1) the liquid level “above the head” (“…the point K presents a mass of water over it greater than J”); B2) the role of the atmospheric pressure (“In K, also Po is acting”); B3) the definition of pressure (“P=F/S, Sj>Sk  Pk>Pj”). The motivation of answer A was based on a sort of “virtual work theorem” (“What happens if I open the left arm of the tube”…the water flows...Pj>Pk”). The expected answer B to the item Q4 was given by 58%, combining the continuity equation and the Bernoulli theorem (S decreasesv increases  «the pressure decreases»). The resolution paths in the other cases were based on typical short circuits on formalism: A) answer -AaVa=AbVb  Vb=(Aa/Ab)Va  Vb2=(Aa/Ab)Va2; B) – answer - AaVa=AbVb  Pb=Pa+1/2  Va2.

Page | 147 Figure 8. Typical answer B) and motivation to the item Q4.

The percentages of responses for the three groups were quite different for the item Q5, in fact the expected answer C) was given by 37% of BT group, 49% of ANGN group, 77% of STF group, with an average of 57% on the global sample. The main strategy adopted was a combination of the continuity equation and the Bernoulli theorem (S decreasesv increases  «the pressure decreases»). The main difficulties facing the question with this approach have been related to the calculation, which is due to the high percentage of non-responses. The response A was given mainly by who has applied reasoning based on the idea that P is proportional to h. Answer B is instead linked to the idea that P is equal in any place of a fluid. The answer B) to the item Q6 was given by an average of 71% of the students, based on the reasoning that there is a linear relation between v and h. About 10% gave the answer B) just associating ½v to h/2. This emerged in the implementation of the group AGNV, whose percentage is lower due to this type of feedback. To the question Q7, 69% gave the expected answer A), with a higher percentage for the group that has carried out systematic clicker/clickers like sessions. The main reasons for the answer A) are: A) qualitative reasoning, based on Bernoulli theorem: P decrease, decreasing the section; B) PA> PB because the flow exerts a bigger pressure in A than in B; C) Explanatory: The left arm push on the right one. To the question Q8, on average 70% of students gave the answer B), with a significantly higher percentage for groups AGNV and STF who explored the similar phenomena in the laboratory, aspect that show the role of the lab on students learning. The main argument is based on the idea that the falling ball reach a regime/limit speed. The option C is based on the expectation of an exponential trend. Those who chosen the option A) applied a proportional reasoning instead. I should be stressed that the questions Q1-Q2-Q5-Q8 were related to the conceptual aspects proposed in the clickers section proposed only to the AGNE and STF students. This seems to result from the different percentages of correct answers in BT group with respect the other two groups, as reported in table 1.

Results and conclusions

A course on basic physics was designed and implemented in the undergraduate courses for Agricultural, Environmental and Nature Sciences and Biotechnology at the University of Udine. It focused on topics such as the physics of fluids and examples taken from the wild, as contexts in which the concepts of physics was introduced and built. The approach to physics was inclined towards the typical contexts and typical problems in biological, medical and natural sciences. In the paper this approach was exemplified in the case of fluid dynamics. The video analysis of the water flow in a real river and then in a duct in the laboratory under controlled conditions provides the elements to construct a simple model based on the law that defines the viscosity of a liquid. The course has been implemented with three groups of students composed of 46 students of the degree course in Biotechnology, 167 students of the courses Agricultural, Environmental and Nature Sciences, Oenology, and 108 students of the degree in Sciences and Technology of food. A first evaluation of the course was performed using the items proposed in written questionnaires. From the results reported and in particular from the qualitative analysis of students reasoning it seem that the engagement of students in analysing questions typically evidenced as learning problems, it is effective not only to overcome the typical learning problems, but also to face dynamical situations as shown by the data related to the correct answers. This require a base content knowledge and to create a link between qualitatively/conceptual and quantitative questions. The different percentage of correct answers in the different groups show the role of the lab sections and of the clickers sections (RQ1).

The principal conceptual path evidence (direct) proportional reasoning, descriptive/qualitative approach as a tool for prediction more frequent than interpretative/quantitative, extension of the role of physical law outside its range of validity (see: use of p=gh law, Archimedes law as a base for a viscosity force model) (RQ2). The particular problematic areas for 20-25% of students were: Pascal Principle; the passage from static to dynamic situations (lack in basic concepts: pressure, Pascal Principle  what is changing in the dynamical situation?); critical management of math, for instance related to the inverse problems. Moreover, it is seen that Page | 148 another 20%-25% of the students have not answered the questions. This seems to suggest the existence of a threshold that must be reached in order to be able to deal with the questions (RQ3).

References Cummings, K., Laws, P.W., Redish, E.F., Cooney, P.J., Taylor, E. F. (2004). Understanding physics, Weley, Hoboken, NJ, USA. Hoskinson, A.M., Couch, B.A., Zwickl, B. M., Hinko, K., Caballero M.D. (2014). Bridging Physics and Biology Teaching through Modeling, American Journal of Physics 82(5): 434-441. Loverude, M. E., Heron, P. R. L., and C. H. Kautz (2010). Identifying and addressing student difficulties with hydrostatic pressure, American Journal of Physics 78, 75-85. Meredith, D.C., Redish, E. (2013). Reinventing physics for life-science majors, Physics Today, 66, 28-43. Michelini, M. (2010). Building bridges between common sense ideas and a physics description of phenomena to develop formal thinking. In Menabue L. and Santoro G. (Eds.), New Trends in Science and Technology Education (Selected Papers, vol. 1, pp. 257-274). CLUEB, Bologna, Italy. O’Shea, B., Terry, L., Benenson, W. (2013). From F=ma to Flying Squirrels: Curricular Change in an Introductory Physics Course, CBE-Life Science Education 12, 230-238.

Appendix: Items included in the written questionnaires Q1. Water at environment pressure and temperature have a density of =1000 kg m-3 and a compressibility of =6 10-10 Pa-1. Which of the expressions gives the variation D of the density of water when the pressure is increased of DP? A) D =  DP B) D = / DP C) D = DP/

Q2. A submarine is located at a depth such that the pressure exerted by the water on its walls is equal to 2,5 105 Pa. The portholes of the submarine have circular flat surface whose area is 0,03 m2. What is the intensity of the resultant force with which the water pushes a porthole towards the interior of the submarine? A) 7,5 103 N B) 8,3 106 N C) 4,5 103 N

Q3. A container, such as shown in the figure, is formed by the left, closed branch and the right one open, wider and higher of the left branch. Compare the pressures at points J and K. Which of the relations is correct? A) PJ >PK B) PJ < PK C) PJ =PK

Q4. A non-viscous liquid of density =1200 kg m-3 flowing in a conduit between two circular sections A and B of area AB = 0,5AA. Section B is located at the same level as the section A. In A the fluid pressure is PA =60000 Pa and its speed is vA = 0,7 m/s. What is the pressure of the liquid in B? A) 60221 Pa B) 59118 Pa C) 60294 Pa

Q5. In a pipeline a fluid of density  is flowing. In a section A of the pipeline which is on the level hA, the pressure is PA and the speed is vA. In the section B of the duct which is located at a level hA- h, the pressure is PB=PA. What can be said about the relationship between the areas of the section A and B A) This ratio is independent of both vA and h. B) This ratio depends on h, but does not depend on vA. 2 C) This ratio depends on h/vA .

Q6. In an open tube of rectangular cross-section there is a steady flow of water of thickness h. The velocity profile at different depths is shown in figure on the right. At what depth the water speed is half the speed of the surface layer? A) h; B) h/2; C) h/4

Q7. A steady flow of water flowing in a conduit is presented in the figure. The diameter of conduit in the section A is twice the diameter in the section B. A U-tube, which contains mercury, is inserted between the sections A and B. Which of the figures represents the best the height of the mercury in the two branches of the U-tube?

Page | 149 Q8. A glass ball is located on the surface of the water contained in a long vertical cylinder. From the graphics shown on the right, which one describes the best the time evolution of the speed of the ball, when dropped into the water?

Affiliation and address information Marisa Michelini and Alberto Stefanel Physics Education Research Unit Department of Chemistry, Physics, Environment University of Udine Via delle Scienze 206 33100 Udine Italy e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

Implementation of Discussion Method to Favour Physics Problem Solving among High School Students

Louis Trudel1 , Abdeljalil Métioui2 1Université d’Ottawa, Canada 2Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada Page | 150 Abstract Understanding physics concepts and problem solving have long been mistaken with one another. In the past two decades, science education research has shown that these are two separate scientific skills so that students can solve problems without necessarily understanding the physical concepts involved. Recently, new research has shown that conceptual understanding and problem solving influence each other (Gaigher, Rogan & Braun, 2007). The discussion method proposed here aims to develop among students problem solving skills by integrating qualitative and quantitative reasoning about physical concepts. The experimentation of the discussion method took place in an adult education centre for two consecutive days, with two 75-minute periods each day. The subjects were 26 young adults aged 16 to 19 years, following a physics high school course. To study the implementation of the discussion method, the main researcher who was also the teacher kept a diary in which he recorded his observations on the sequence of events, his thoughts on the observed events, and links between his observations and the theoretical framework of this research (Altrichter & Holly, 2005). According to observations, the discussion method used facilitate learning the concepts of mechanics in a high school physics class with excellent results as to the motivation of students to solve problems and share solutions. To conclude, the integration of qualitative and quantitative reasoning is a promising way to develop physics problems solving skills among high school students.

Keywords Discussion method, problem solving, high school science, kinematics, qualitative reasoning

Introduction

In physics, there are two main types of problems: simple problems and complex problems (Reif, 2008). A simple problem, often called exercise, requires only a limited number of choices and often results in the application of a procedure, for example to find the appropriate equation and replace the variables in this equation by constants according to the information in the statement. At the opposite, complex scientific problems require student to divide the task into steps so that he must perform at each stage choices between different alternatives. In this type of problem, the number of choices is higher and often left to the care of the student, the evaluation criteria are not defined or complex, different solutions are possible, which forces the student to evaluate them according to their relevance and effectiveness (Reif, 2008). It is in this situation that the acquisition of problem-solving skills is particularly important. Moreover, there are two types of problems depending on the nature of the information provided in the statement: qualitative problems and quantitative problems. In a quantitative problem, the information is transmitted in numerical form (or symbols representing numbers) and require for its solution that the student reasons quantitatively, that is to say that he can connect various information in the form of an equation or a mathematical relationship in order to draw a conclusion (Reif, 2008). In the qualitative problem, the information is communicated in a qualitative form, either by words or numbers, that indicate the order1 but only so that they cannot formulate on their basis a quantitative conclusion. In this case, the solution requires that the student reasons qualitatively, that is to say they can link the various qualitative information to draw a conclusion that approximated the properties of the phenomena studied (Legendre, 2002; Mualem & Eylon, 2007). To facilitate students’ understanding of physics concepts, it is preferable to introduce the study of phenomena in a qualitative form for several reasons: 1) the qualitative reasoning is familiar to students as it is used everyday (Forbus & Gentner, 1986; Legendre, 2002); 2) the qualitative reasoning allows students to better discern the links between concepts because they are not distracted by the need for extensive mathematization (Champagne, Gusntone & Klopfer, 1985). 3) qualitative reasoning facilitates the recognition of the limits of the solution found and the constraints of the physical situation (Mualem & Eylon, 2007; Goffard, 1992). However, qualitative reasoning encounter limitations: 1) in many instances it is still undetermined, that is to say, it is not possible to predict its outcome (Crepault, 1989; Parsons, 2001) ; 2) it does not disclose the relationship between several variables, since it is limited to the comparison of changes between pairs of variables (Someren &Tabbers, 1998); 3) units of the variables are not taken into account because these units are determined by the measurement

process which refers to the existence of an operational definition of the concept (Arons, 1990; Mäntylä & Koponen, 2007). In contrast, quantitative reasoning is used to specify the functional relations between relevant variables to a phenomenon. In addition, this type of reasoning allows to consider the interactions between several variables. Finally, the formulation of a rule as an equation helps explain the properties by a system of relations of great generality (Mäntylä & Koponen, 2007; Safayeni, Derbentseva, and Canas, 2005). Nevertheless, this kind of Page | 151 reasoning is not familiar to students so that they may have difficulty connecting various quantities together. Indeed, to solve problems involving quantitative reasoning, students often use superficial resolution processes that consists in choosing a procedure based on clues provided in the statement (Goffard, 1992; Mestre, Dufrene, Gerace & Hardiman, 1993). To remedy these deficiencies, the combination of qualitative and quantitative reasoning in a problem-solving strategy could allow students to better understand the physical concepts and improves their ability to solve problems (Gaigher, Rogan & Braun, 2007). But how to combine these two types of reasoning remains unclear in the research we reviewed (Reif, 2008) Some researchers proposed a framework that ordained these two types of reasoning along a scale from qualitative to quantitative reasoning, with semi- quantitative reasoning somewhere between the two (Ploetzner, Spada, Stumpf, & Opwis, 1990). Other researchers advanced that the two types of reasoning belong to different representations (Someren & Tabbers, 1998). The present research offered a third option which studies how to integrate the two types of reasoning in a teaching strategy aiming to develop students' problem-solving skills and understanding of kinematical concepts.

Conception of problem-solving discussion method

With respect to problem-solving strategy, how should we combine qualitative and quantitative reasoning? Indeed, if this combination appears to improve learning of physics, the way how to coordinate them is yet to be determined. To this end, different approaches have been suggested (Parsons, 2001). Of these, mainly two approaches have been used in the teaching of physics. A first approach is to apply one type of reasoning after the other. In this approach, the qualitative reasoning promotes the expression of a limited group of plausible assumptions about the properties of a phenomenon from a set of possible hypotheses (Parsons, 2001). Subsequently, the formulation of these hypotheses in a quantitative form clarifies among this select group the few hypotheses to be verified (Someren & Tabbers, 1998). The second approach, which incorporates qualitative and quantitative reasoning begins with the qualitative description of the properties and classification of phenomena as relations. The experiments are designed to transform the qualities identified in measurable quantities (for example, the operational definition of the temperature) and qualitative relationships in quantitative laws (Koponen & Mäntylä, 2006). To choose between these various alternatives, one must look more precisely at the various ways research has used these two modes of reasoning to foster conceptual understanding and problem-solving in science. First, with respect to qualitative reasoning, a qualitative problem has multiple solutions so that it is possible to discuss the various solutions proposed by students (Trudel, 2005). Thus, a qualitative problem can be broken into parts by identifying the range of values with respect to certain factors whose properties are qualitatively different (Reif, 2008). Moreover, a qualitative problem allows the student to define the conditions of the problem (Goffard, 1992). In fact, it is possible to bring the student and to define the conditions of a problem to allow the separate study of a set of qualitatively distinct cases (Collins and Stevens, 1983). Subsequently, the introduction of quantitative data enables students to realize that the same problem can generate several quantitative problems whose resolution mode is similar. For example, consider the following physical situation: a car 12 volt battery, of internal resistance r, is connected in parallel to two equal resistor R (headlights). A quantitative problem drafted from this situation may ask to find the current electric flowing in each headlight. To solve it, it would require the equations applicable to electrical circuits and isolate the current value. Since the information is communicated in symbolic form, the solution constitutes an algebraic equation which will be valid for different values of resistors R1 and R2 (Reif, 2008). The situation described before could also suit a qualitative problem in which you ask (Reif, 2008): If one of the headlight burns, is that the potential difference across the still lit headlight will be larger, smaller or remain the same? In this case, we will establish a series of qualitative reasoning that links qualitative information of the statement to draw a conclusion (Reif, 2008): 1) If a headlight burns, its resistance R thereof becomes very large so that the resistance of the two headlights becomes larger; 2) the combined resistance of the resistors r and the set of two headlights also becomes larger so that the electric current in the circuit decreases; 3) Since a potential difference is proportional current is, the potential difference across the resistor r decreases; 4) Because the potential difference at the terminals of the battery must be kept constant, the potential difference across the resistor R must increase.

From what precedes, one can conclude that, since qualitative reasoning is used in everyday life and is thus more familiar to students, it should be used with respect to problem-solving at least in the initial analysis (Eylon & Mualem, 2007). Indeed, qualitative reasoning allows students to better discern the links between concepts because they are not distracted by the need for extensive mathematization (Champagne et al, 1985). Moreover, it facilitates the recognition of the limits of the solution found and the constraints of the physical situation (Goffard, 1992). It is in this area that the use of qualitative reasoning by students can be helpful. Thus, the conditions to foster problem-solving competences should be first to analyse initially the situation as to help Page | 152 student consider the different choices (Reif, 2008). Second, to construct a plan to monitor his progress of the toward the solution . Third, to elaborate evaluation criteria to assess the solution obtained (Polya, 2014). However, both qualitative and quantitative approaches do not consider alternatives conceptions that students can entertain relatively to the phenomenon studied so that students can have difficulty identifying relevant factors and to express them in a form that facilitates quantitative formulation (Ploetzner & Spada, 1998). Indeed, if there is one area that causes many difficulties for students, it is physics and especially kinematics, which is defined as the study of the motion of objects without regard to its causes (Champagne, Klopfer & Gunstone, 1985; Aron, 1990). There are several reasons advanced by the researchers. First, students have, before arriving in physics courses, extensive experience on the properties of motion they have acquired in their interactions with the events of their day (Forbus & Gentner, 1986). This experience has allowed them to build a set of schemas to interpret the phenomena of motion (Champagne, Gunstone & Klopfer, 1985; Forbus & Gentner, 1986). These patterns are quite adapted to the tasks of daily life: driving a bicycle, catch an object, etc. However, these schemas differ markedly from scientific concepts. In some cases, these schemes may even interfere with learning, especially if education does not take them into account. In this case, the danger is great that students distinguish academic knowledge, which works in schools (for example in the laboratory), from daily knowledge that enables them to react effectively to the events of everyday life (Legendre, 1994). To establish links between conceptual understanding and reasoning, both qualitatively and quantitatively, they must be mobilized and used in educational contexts that allow exchanges between students and promoting interaction with the phenomena (Trudel, 2005). Indeed, group work, especially when there is sharing of information and exchanges of views, such as during a small group discussion, which enable students to access many sources of information and to be exposed to a diversity of views, which can promote problem solving (Trudel & Metioui, 2008). Thus, the main steps for conceiving a problem-solving discussion: 1) transformation of quantitative problems into qualitative form; 2) selection and grouping of problems under an overarching principle; 3) individual problem solving; 4) sharing solutions in small groups; 5) establishing a resolution process for a general class of problems; 6) presenting solutions to the class; 7) critical review and feedback by peers and teachers; 8) Elaboration and extension to other problems/ situations. We turn now to describe the three principal steps: 1) transformation of quantitative problems in qualitative form; 2) individual and group problem- solving; sharing solutions through plenary discussion. First, the teacher considers a quantitative problem and remove some quantitative data (Champagne, Gunstone & Klopfer, 1985; Reif, 2008). Take a quantitative problem on Newton's laws which reads as follows: A train consists of a locomotive and 20 cars attached to it. The mass of the locomotive is 20000 kg, whereas the weight of each car is 10000 kg. The locomotive accelerates from rest to a speed of 2.0 m / s in 5 seconds, then moves thereafter at constant speed. Answer the following questions : 1. What is the coupling strength between the locomotive and the first car when accelerating? Explain your answer. 2. What is the coupling strength between the locomotive and the first wagon when the train moves at a constant speed? Explain your answer. This quantitative problem can be converted into a qualitative problem as follows: A train with a locomotive and 20 cars is at rest. The station controller gives the signal to start. The mechanic starts the engine, giving the entire train a constant acceleration for 5 seconds. The train moves thereafter at constant speed. Answer the following questions : 1) What is the coupling strength between the locomotive and the first car? Explain your answer. 2) What is the value of the coupling strength when the train moves at a constant speed? Explain your answer. What is the difference between the two problems? First, we note that most numerical data have disappeared. There remains only a few, insufficient to determine a unique solution, but sufficient to make the student feel confident toward a problem that sounds familiar. It is just a little later he realizes that some data are missing and that he must first define them (Goffard, 1992). He can, for example, specify the weight of the locomotive and wagons to transform the qualitative problem in a problem similar to the previous one. If he works in a group, other students will propose their own values. He will then find that the resolution process is similar regardless of the values involved, which may prompt the student to generalize his solving method. Then, the teacher asks students to solve the problems first individually. He encourages them to define for themselves the conditions to impose on the chosen problem to obtain a quantitative solution. Then he encourages them to work in small groups to compare their solutions. He asks them to establish a resolution process that could solve a variety of

problems. Finally, the teacher ask, in plenary, to each group of students that a delegate presents the solutions of his group to the entire class. This last step allows students to be aware of the variety of possible solutions to the same problem. It is also an opportunity for the teacher and students to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each resolution process and try to improve them if appropriate.

Methodology

Page | 153 The experimentation of the discussion method took place in an adult education center for two consecutive days, with two 75-minute periods each day. The subjects were 26 young adults aged 16 to 19 years old, following a physics high school course. In this center, these young adults can pick up the thread of their studies, full time or part time, in an environment that meets their needs. Monitoring and supervision of students are customized. To measure student progress without too much delay, the school year is divided into two semesters. Students also have the opportunity to continue their journey while recovering their delay in the compulsory subjects. The center offers all courses of Secondary 4 and 5, including techno-mathematical sciences (TS), natural sciences (SN), physical chemistry, science and technology (SN).

To study the implementation of the discussion method, the main researcher who was also the teacher kept a diary in which he recorded his observations on the sequence of events, his thoughts on the observed events, and links between its observations and the theoretical framework of this research (Altrichter & Holly, 2005). The diary kept by the researcher/teacher respectively served two functions: 1) to document the research process in trying to determine the conditions for implementation of the proposed approach in the targeted areas; 2) to document the pedagogical process when the researcher/teacher used as it a reflective tool in planning his own teaching approach. Note that in our research, these two functions are interdependent in the sense that the indications of the researcher of the diary serve to adjust the approach chosen and conversely the notes taken in the professional diary will assess the effects of these adjustments to the educational process thereof (Moxley, 2007). Whatever its function, the diary is the external memory of the teacher/researcher, since the two roles were done by the same person. The dairy allows him to better understand, takes a step back from his own design, organize his ideas, etc. To do this, the dairy contains written material of various quality and types including the following major elements: 1) the data collected during the observations of the environment involved in the discussions with students, readings before, during or after teaching; 2) information on the context in which these data were collected; 3) reflections and interpretations of the teacher/ researcher on the data collected; 4) ideas or plans for future research steps (Altrichter & Holly, 2005). Observations were written by the teacher/researcher in the diary after the courses and constituted recollections of the unfolding of the lessons. Other documents were collected to describe the characteristics of the chosen school settings and specify the contexts in which took place the project implementation. Regarding the qualitative data collected, we followed the method developed by Miles and Huberman Saldaña (2014) to classify data in predetermined categories or create new categories. As for the quantitative tools, the test that was administered to the students at the end of the lessons. This test, constructed by the teacher/ researcher, contained 18 multiple-choice questions. The concepts covered in the test were the following: instantaneous speed (1), interpretation of position-time (1), speed-time (4) and acceleration-time (4) graphs, constant speed motion (2), uniformly accelerated motion (4), free fall (2). No comparison group was involved, which constituted a one-group posttest-only design (Cook & Campbell,1979)

Results According to observations, the discussion method used facilitate learning the concepts of mechanics in a fifth grade of secondary physics class with excellent results as to the motivation of students to solve problems and share solutions. Subsequently, these students have been successful in a summative test that evaluate their knowledge of kinematical concepts. To implement the discussion method in the classroom, we followed the following steps : 1) First, the teacher transformed some quantitative problems in qualitative problems in a particular area of physics. The kinematics was chosen given its importance for subsequent learning in physics. In this regard, it is important that the concepts involved are connected so that students can identify a more general method for solving a certain class of problems. 2) The teacher asked students to solve the problems first individually. He encouraged them to define for themselves the conditions to impose on the chosen problem to obtain a quantitative solution. Then he encouraged them to work in small groups to compare their solutions. He asked them to establish a resolution process that could solve a variety of problems. 3) In plenary, each group of students had to present their solutions to the entire class. This last step allowed students to be aware of the variety of possible solutions to the same problem. It was also an opportunity for the

teacher and students to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each resolution process and try to improve them if appropriate. As for suggestions to teachers, we suggest transforming some quantitative problems in qualitative problems in a particular area of physics (kinematics of accelerated motion, Newton's second law, friction force, etc.). It is important that the concepts involved are connected so that students can identify in the activity a more general method for solving a certain class of problems. Moreover, it is important that students assess for themselves the validity of their solution so that evaluation become part of their process of problem-solving. Page | 154 Discussion and conclusion

The integration of qualitative and quantitative reasoning is a promising way to develop students’ problem solving skills and conceptual understanding in high school physics. The discussion method proposed in this paper puts forward the qualitative reasoning as a prelude to the development of solving quantitative problems. It must be noted however that the transformation of quantitative problems in qualitative problems is efficient only in the context of the teaching strategy proposed here. Indeed, for a problem to be qualified as qualitative or quantitative may need more that just taking out the numerical information of the statement. It requires also that the teacher defines to his student the context and the characteristics of the task by his questions and his prompts. For example, the teacher may ask his student to describe the situation of the problem and to define by himself the conditions needed to get a solution. Other strategies are possible, such as structured problem solving, which according Gaigher, Rogan and Braun (2007) allows to develop in secondary students problem-solving skills and understanding of physical concepts. In this strategy, the qualitative reasoning involved in the analysis of the problem, where students must identify the relevant physical principle to the problem and explain why (Gaigher, Rogan and Braun 2007; Reif, 2008). In another vein, the use of the method of discussion proposed in this paper highlights the need to give more prominence to the student in the evaluation of his own scientific learning. Indeed, a discussion method source of feedback is part of a learning process where the student uses the information provided by the teacher, peers, and the results of its actions (experiences, comparison, criticism) to improve gradually his methods of problem solving and understanding of physical concepts (Miron Atkins, Black & Coffey, 2001). As for the limits of the present research, since the strategies integrating assessment, teaching and learning do not establish a clear boundary between these three poles of the educational situation, there is always the danger that the student, confusing the three do not have not a sound basis for judging performance. Therefore, it is better at regular intervals, a separate assessment of learning is undertaken, eg constituted by multiple choice questions or development. Moreover, the one-group posttest-only design used here, together with the qualitative component describing the unfolding of the strategy with possible sources of influence, is adequate only to document the presence of our teaching strategy and how well it was delivered, as well as generated plausible hypothesis about the way to combine qualitative and quantitative reasonings (Cook & Campbell, 1979). Moreover, it should be noted that the examples provided in this article aim to illustrate and have no claim as to the validity of the experiences or the generality of their results. In this respect, our view is not that of the evaluation specialist familiar with the main theories in the field of evaluation, but rather of the reflective practitioner who, meditating on its practice of physics high school teacher and science education professor, draws on theories of learning, teaching and assessment to propose solutions to questions that arise in a context of professional development (Burnaford, Fischer & Hobson, 2001).

Notes The order relations allow to classify the degrees of intensity of a variable, for example, the degrees of intensity of the heat. Qualitative reasoning could then be stated as follows: "The metal spoon gets hotter when it is immersed in boiling water."

References Arons, A. B. (1990). A guide to introductory physics teaching, John Wiley & Sons, Toronto. Altrichter, H.,and Hollly, M.L. (2005). Research Diaries. In Somekh, B., & C. Lewin, C. (Eds), Research Methods in the Social Sciences, chap. 2, pp. 24-32. Thousand Oaks (CA) : SAGE. Burnaford, G., Fischer, J., and Hobson, D. (Eds). (2001). Teachers doing research: The power of action through inquiry, 2nd ed., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates ,Mahwah (NJ). Champagne, A. B., Gunstone, R.F., and Klopfer, L.E. (1985). Instructional consequences of students' knowledge about physical phenomena. In L.T. West et A.L. Pines (Eds), Cognitive structures and conceptual change, p. 61-89, Academic Press, Montréal.

Collins, A., and Stevens, A.L. (1983). A cognitive theory of inquiry teaching. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.) Instructional-design theories and models : an overview of their current status, pp. 247-278, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale (NJ). Cook, T.D. & Campbell, D.T. (1979). Quasi-experimentation: Design & analysis issues for field settings. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Company. Crépault, J. (1989). Temps et raisonnement: Développement cognitif de l’enfant à l’adulte. Presses Universitaires de Lille. Forbus, K. D. and Gentner, D. (1986). Learning physical domains: Toward a theoretical framework. In T.2 de R. Michalski, J. G. Page | 155 Carbonell and T. M. Mitchell (Eds.), Machine learning: An artificial intelligence approach (pp. 311-348). Los Altos (Californie): Morgan Kaufman Publishers. Gaigher, E., Rogan, J.M., and Braun, M.W. (2007). Exploring the development of conceptual understanding through structured problem-solving in physics. International Journal of Science Education, 29(9), 1089-1110. Goffard, Monique. (1992). Partager le savoir, partager le pouvoir. Science et Vie, 180 (sept.), 84-89. Koponen, I. T., and Mäntylä, T. (2006). Generative role of experiments in physics and in teaching physics: A suggestion for epistemological reconstruction. Science & Education, 15, 31-54. Legendre, M.-F. (2002). Le rôle du raisonnement qualitatif dans les processus de changement conceptuel et ses implications pour l’enseignement et la formation des enseignants. In R.M. J. Toussaint (Ed.), Changement conceptuel et apprentissage des sciences : Recherches et pratiques (pp. 177-202). Outremont (Québec), Éditions Logiques. Mäntylä, Terhi, and Koponen, Ismo. (2007). Understanding the role of measurements in creating physical quantities : A case study of learning to quantify temperature in physics teacher education. Science & Education, 16, 291-311. Mestre, J. P., Dufrene, R.J., Gerace, W.J. , and Hardiman, P.T. (1993). Promoting skilled problem-solving behavior among beginning physics students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30(3), 303-317. Miles, M.B, Huberman, A.M., Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook, 3rd ed. Los Angeles, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. Miron Atkin, J., Black, J., and Coffey, J (Ed..). (2001). Classroom assessment and national science education standards, National Academy Press, Washington (DC). Mualem, R. and Eylon, B.-S. (2007). “Physics with a smile”- Explaining phenomena with a qualitative problem-solving strategy. The Physics Teacher, 45, 158-163. Parsons, S. (2001). Qualitative methods for reasoning under uncertainty, MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.). Ploetzner, R., Spada, H., Stumpf, M., & Opwis, K. (1990). Learning qualitative and quantitative reasoning in a microworld for elastic impacts. European Journal of Psychology of Education, V(4), 501-516. Polya, G. (2014). How to solve it : a new aspect of mathematical method, Princeton University Press, Princeton. Reif, F. (2008). Applying cognitive science to education: Thinking and learning in scientific and complex domains, MIT Press, Cambridge (MA). Safayeni, Frank, Derbentseva, Natalia, and Canas, Alberto J. (2005). A theoretical note on concepts and the need for cyclic concept maps. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(7), 741-766. Someren, M., and Tabbers, H. (1998). The role of prior qualitative knowledge in inductive learning. In Someren, M.W., Reimann, P., Boshuizen, H.P.A., and de Jong, T. (Eds.), Learning with multiple representations (pp. 102-119). New York: Pergamon Trudel, L. (2005). Impact d’une méthode de discussion sur la compréhension des concepts de la cinématique chez les élèves de cinquième secondaire. Thèse de doctorat inédite, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal. Trudel, L. and Métioui, A. (2008) . Influence d’une discussion préalable sur la participation des élèves dans un laboratoire de physique du secondaire. Conférence Internationale Éducation, Économie et Société Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel, 17-19 Juillet 2008, CD-ROM, pp. 410-424.

Affiliation and address information Louis Trudel Professeur agrégé Faculté d'éducation Pavillon Lamoureux Université d'Ottawa 145, rue Jean-Jacques-Lussier Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada Courriel: [email protected]

Theoretically and Empirically Based Evaluation of Laboratory Courses – PraQ Questionnaire

Daniel Rehfeldt , Volkhard Nordmeier Physics education research, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Page | 156 Abstract Since 1999, when the Bologna Process was introduced, a claim for permanent screening of learning outcomes of higher education has started. Nevertheless, evaluation nowadays is mostly not based on theoretical models, and rarely accepted by participants.Two theoretically based psychological test instruments were created at FU Berlin in order to change this. Unfortunately, they ignored science laboratories. Keeping the significance of lab courses in mind, e.g. for enhancement of experimental competences, the theory based evaluation of those would clearly fill a gap. Therefore we constructed a theoretical framework and an economically usable questionnaire called PraQ.The questionnaire is based on a theoretical model for lab quality, containing three main dimensions: (a) learning gains, (b) teaching practices of tutor and (c) lab material. PraQ consists of 140 items in 40 scales, divided into two questionnaires (15min each). PraQ-A measures the growth in content knowledge, scientific inquiry practices, communication etc. PraQ-B consists of teaching practices of lab tutors, with abilities like explaining properly or summarizing. Furthermore it contains the material-dimension, which covers the lab script, integration and basic experimental material. Analysis of the piloting data demanded an exploratory factor analysis for new and highly modified items and scales. Our data source for piloting consisted of several science labs across Germany, including different disciplines and different universities, resulting in NA = 241, NB = 237. We could show an eight-factor solution very close to the intended structure, having good reliability among the scales. Therefore, PraQ questionnaire now can be used widely for research on labs while additional validation is still in progress.

Keywords Science labs, evaluation, lab theory, PraQ, LeKo, BeVakomp, experimental practice, experimental competences.

Purpose of the questionnaire: Evaluation is crucial

Since 1999, when the Bologna Process was introduced, a claim for permanent screening of learning outcomes of higher education has started (Friedrich, 2005; Hopbach, 2007). Higher education should crucially become more competence oriented in terms of educational output, especially in science education at university level. Nevertheless, nowadays common evaluation is mostly not based on profound theoretical background, and rarely accepted by participants (Csonka, 2014). As Marsh & Roche, (1997, p. 1) state, “adopting a broad construct- validation approach, recognizing […] effective teaching […]” is needed.

Academic relevance: Gap of Knowledge

Lab courses are the core of experimental training in science education (Psillos & Niedderer, 2002). Keeping this in mind, the theory based evaluation of those courses would clearly fill a gap. They aim to teach experimental practices (e.g. Schreiber, Theyßen, & Schecker, 2012) – an essential part of further studies and the future work of the students. In order to achieve a more theoretically based evaluation of university courses in general, two theoretically based psychological test instruments, called LeKo (Thiel, Blüthmann, & Watermann, 2012) and BeVaKomp (Braun, Gusy, Leidner, & Hannover, 2008), were created, aiming at lectures and seminars of all subjects. Unfortunately, they ignored science laboratories for their theoretically based and comprehensive research. Severe differences between science labs and classic lectures or seminars might be the cause for that. Labs are well organized courses, in which participants often have a weekly repetition of their expected actions within the course. It starts with the preparation at home with a lab script. This preparation is crucial for passing the oral pre- exam at the beginning of lab attendance. Moreover, experimental groups are small with a good staff-student- ratio, which enhances the relevance of good teaching practises by the lab teachers, e.g. regarding diagnosis of learning gains or proper explanations of the apparatus used. Nevertheless, the LeKo and BevaKomp questionnaire build a knowledge base for constructing a theoretically grounded instrument for labs. LeKo consists of several self-reporting scales regarding teaching competences of lecturers and seminar leaders in higher education. These teaching competences consist of pedagogical as well as didactical dimensions of teaching in higher education. Some of these might be important for lab teachers, too. BEvaKomp evaluates lectures and seminars from another perspective, looking at the gain of (meta-) competences of the students due to the respecting course. This is also realized by self-reporting scales. The

(meta-) competences are oriented on higher education key competences (Braun & Gusy, 2006), such as content knowledge, methodical competence, cooperation competence, personal competence etc. Some of these competences might associate with laboratory goals as well. Both instruments were theory-driven and evaluated empirically. In general, evaluation forms are often realized as self-reporting scales, opening the question for the validity of such measures. As discussed by Braun et al. (2008, p. 32), a valid measure is reached by testing for construct validity of the instrument, which demands for a validation study. Following Messick (1995, p. 745), construct validity as a Page | 157 global concept can be divided into different aspects: content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external and consequential aspects. The content aspect means the content of a questionnaire being representative to the topic being measured. Substantive aspect is about, whether the assessment task itself takes the participant to think about the constructs measured. Structural aspect investigates how the relationship between scoring structure and latent structure behaves. Whether or not such structures or interpretations can be generalized across target groups is the task of generalizability aspect. New instruments have to be tested, whether they correlate with existing measures. This is part of the external validity aspect, divided into convergent (similar construct measured) and divergent (distinct construct measured) sides. Finally, if instruments are implemented in evaluation regularly, it is important to look for consequential aspects, meaning, if actions based on the results of the measurement are fair and unbiased. When those validity criteria are met, we can assume quite good validity, which is not effected by the method of self-reporting measurement too much (Lucas & Baird, 2006). For a broader discussion, see Braun et al. (2008, p. 32f). Their validity is one reason, why LeKo and BEvaKomp were successfully applied at universities, especially for lectures and seminars, and now replace the standard evaluation form university wide. Our goal was to construct a theoretical framework and an economically usable and valid questionnaire. Our target group are undergraduate lab participants, since those courses are the first step during science education at higher education for gaining experimental skills. Furthermore, the concept of undergraduate courses is more comparable than advanced ones among universities. Aiming on a theoretically and empirically based evaluation instrument, two things are needed, (1) a literature and expert-validated theoretical model and (2) an empirical validation study.

Theoretical framework: A model for lab quality

Our theoretical framework is a model for lab quality, which was based on literature review in the first step (Rehfeldt, Mühlenbruch, & Nordmeier, 2015). We found several equalities in the organization of undergraduate labs and literature also mentioned equalities on a content oriented basis (Gutzler, Rehfeldt, & Nordmeier, 2014). For instance, labs share similar goals (Haller, 1999; Zwickl, Finkelstein, & Lewandowski, 2013), the discipline contents overlap (Lagowski, 2002, p. 1) and there is even an international consent for a »prototypic culture of experimental investigation« (translated from Emden, 2011, p. 34). Therefore, our theoretical model should aim not only on physics, but also on undergraduate science labs in general, e.g. chemistry or physiology labs. Our model contains three main dimensions: (a) learning gains (growth of competences), (b) teaching practices of tutor and (c) lab material, with a learning-theoretical influence of quality of learning environment and teaching practices on learning gains. Figure 1 shows also the respective sub dimensions: For learning gains, content knowledge is a standard goal for lab courses, as are inquiry practices in general, since no other undergraduate course works with own experience in the experimentation process that much. Communication competence, e.g. written communication, is targeted by labs, since lab reports are sort of the first academic paper a student has to write. The sub dimension Assessment is based on the assessment of adequacy, plausibility and validity of experimental results required for lab course (Kreiten, 2012), which accounts for critical interpretation of your own experimental results and its implications. Some meta-skills potentially gained in the lab course are cooperation and personal competence. Cooperation is fostered by lab courses, since experimental groups are small and work together the whole time of attendance. Personal skills consist of motivation for labwork and time management for being able to plan the preparation at home, the lab attendance and the post-processing, which all are quite time consuming and therefore train time management skills. The teaching practices are divided into three sub dimensions, which represent the basic teaching skills a lab tutor should have. On one hand side, these are the more didactical dimension supporting knowledge and learning, e.g. explaining, repeating, linking etc. (Thiel et al., 2012). On the other hand, a more pedagogical factor is to motivate and create a learning atmosphere, e.g. promote self-guided learning, illustrating relevance etc. (ibid.) and to promote interaction of groups, e.g. handling disruptions (ibid.), diagnosis of learning process (Ditton & Merz, 1995; Janke, 2006) etc.

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Figure 1. Theoretical model of lab quality. The three main dimensions are learning gains of the students (competences), teaching practices of the lab tutor and quality of the learning environment. Together with their respective sub dimensions, these build a model for evaluating quality of lab courses. Since learning environment and teaching practices are expected to influence learning gain, the letter one is seen as the main dimension of quality.

Regarding the learning environment dimension, three sub dimensions are implemented: As Zastrow (2001, p. 11) and Nagel (2009, p. 116) point out that quality of lab script has an impact on learning quality in lab courses, since it is the main source for the students’ preparation at home. Integration of lecture was defined as crucial by Fraser & McRobbie in 1995, meaning the extent to which lab activities are integrated with lectures, which is quality criterion for the global goal of linking theory and practice (Haller, 1999). The three main dimensions with their respective sub-dimensions build a theoretical framework for lab quality from three different quality perspectives: Material input, teaching input and learning output. For designing the PraQ questionnaire, we operationalized these lab quality dimensions.

Methods: Questionnaire and validation study

The measuring tool itself consists of 140 statements (called items) in 40 scales, divided into two questionnaires PraQ-A and PraQ-B (15min each). The first part measures learning gains (a) regarding growth in content knowledge, scientific inquiry practices, communication etc. The second part contains the teaching practices of lab tutors (b) measuring abilities like explaining properly, summarizing or emphasizing relevance. Furthermore, it contains the material-dimension (c) which covers the lab script, integration of the lecture, and basic experimental material (Fraser & McRobbie, 1995; Kreiten, 2012). For this study, results of PraQ-B are shown in details. Therefore, table 1 shows some example items of the questionnaire measuring teaching practices and material. The validation study started in 2014 (design see fig. 2), where the literature-based items of PraQ-A and -B were reviewed by experts, namely lab instructors of physics-, chemistry-, veterinary science- and biotech-labs (substantive validity aspect). This was done by cognitive interviews (Prüfer & Rexroth, 2005) and aimed on content validity by examining the relevance and the acceptance of the items for labwork in the different fields. The pilot study as a subpart of the validation for both questionnaires (see fig. 2) started late 2014 and ended in mid-2015. This part was meant to extract the item-structure of the instrument, handling the question, which items belong together to form so called factors, which could be seen as latent constructs behind the statements in the items. Some of these factors have been investigated previously, as a few scales came from established instruments. These were excluded from the pilot analysis and will only be implemented in the next step of the validation study. For now, piloting results of PraQ-B are shown, looking at the factor structure. The analysis of the piloting data demands an exploratory factor analysis1 for the new and highly modified items and scales. Analyses of validation 1 and 2 are still ongoing. Validation 1 handles the question, whether found factors remain constant with a different sample (structural validity aspect) or within different labs (generalizability validity aspect). Validation 2 looks for construct validity by studying the relations between PraQ and established instruments, measuring the same or similar constructs (convergent validity) or distinct constructs (discriminant validity).

1 To be precise a principal component analysis was done, which leads to similar results most of the time (Field, 2013, p. 638). For readability and recognition, the term »EFA« is used.

Table 1. Example Items for PraQ-B within validation-1-study.

Hypothetical Rough construct description Example item construct

Summarizing Lab tutor summarizes essential The lab tutor highlights crucial aspects of aspects of theory and experiment the experimental setup (e.g. within Page | 159 discussions, while experimenting etc.)

Check Lab tutor interacts with students Before continuing, the lab tutor assures, that understanding to let them check their central aspects of the experimental setup are understanding clear.

Illustrating Lab tutor illustrates relevance of The lab tutor emphasizes the relevance of relevance labwork and lab topics theoretical issues for future studies.

Improving self- Lab tutor tries to improve self- The lab tutor shows trust in student’s efficacy efficacy of students abilities.

Diagnosis: Basic Lab tutor takes time to diagnose The lab tutor takes his time to explain things attitude learning progress to students which are not or poorly understood.

Diagnosis: just in Lab tutor recognizes instantly, The lab tutor recognizes instantly, when a time whether comprehension is met. student can’t follow.

Lab script quality Lab script is structured, useful for The lab script supports me in gaining a preparation, labwork and good overview of the experimental setup. postprocessing

Integration of Extent to which laboratory The laboratory work is related to the topics lecture activities are integrated with non- I study in the lecture. laboratory and theory lectures (See Fraser, 1995, p. 297)

Figure 2. Design of validation study. Expert Interviews combined with a broad literature review formed the content of the theoretical model and the questionnaire. The piloting examines the structure of the questionnaire, while validation 1 analyses, whether the structure can be confirmed using a different sample. Validation 2 tries to connect PraQ measures with established instruments.

Data Source: Labs across Germany and Austria

The data source for piloting the PraQ consist of several science labs across Germany and Austria, including different disciplines (physics, chemistry, biotechnology, physiology) and different universities (Berlin, Potsdam, Wildau, Kiel, Bielefeld, Wuppertal, Tübingen, Trier, Cologne, Munich, Aachen and Vienna), resulting in N = 237 for the learning gain dimension of PraQ-A and N = 241 for teaching practices and material dimensions Page | 160 of PraQ-B. Analysis & results: Good factor structure and very good reliability estimates for PraQ-B

PraQ-B was analysed by using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which acts on the basis of PEARSON correlations among the items and gives information on how much an item belongs to a factor (loading). Prior to and during the analysis, some items had to be dropped, caused by extremely low or high means (no gain of information due to the item), not enough correlations with other items or only low loadings (isolated item), low communalities (bad reliability of item) or practically significant double loadings (ambiguous relationship). This is summarized by table 2 and led to the elimination of eight items, which don’t seriously affect content validity. Remaining 37 Items were analysed in EFA.

Table 2. Eliminated items within piloting PraQ-B and reasons for elimination, TRUE = 1; FALSE = 0.

reasons for elimination Item communality < At least one No Not matching any .60 crossloading loading > factor >.40 .40 Feedback on Experiment 0 0 1 1 Exam feedback 0 0 1 1 Advice for experiments 0 0 0 1 Advice is focused 1 0 0 0 Explaining theory 0 1 0 1 Explaining experiment 0 0 1 0 Script shows lab report 1 0 0 0 Script combines theory and 1 0 0 0 practice

A flexible approach was used, oriented on EV1 criterion and content considerations, to compare ten- to seven- factor solutions. Rotation method was chosen oblique (direct oblimin), because constructs for teaching competences are expected to correlate with each other.1 The factor structure of the inductive scales concerning teaching practices and material dimension shows an eight- factor solution very close to an expected structure with 74% variance explained by the factors. According to the respective items, scale names were chosen (see table 3). The reliability estimates among the scales are very good, with an α ranging from .85 to .95, indicating low measurement errors.

Conclusion: PraQ questionnaires piloting was successful: Good factor structure and great reliability estimates

The items of the PraQ questionnaire show a reasonable and reliable structure in terms of theoretical modelling. Results for PraQ-B were shown, those for PraQ-A where comparable (results for PraQ-A unpublished,). Therefore, PraQ questionnaire is now available for routine research on labs.2 The PraQ questionnaire is theoretically based and the empirical grounding is progressing well. The items were created by literature review and rated adequately be experts. Content of PraQ-B consists of quality of teaching practices of lab tutors and quality of lab material, such as the lab script. Teaching practices contain skills in summarizing, diagnosing, improving self-efficacy of students etc. The quality of lab script is determined by

1 Assumptions for performing an EFA were met by the data: Normality was ok (regarding Skewness and Kurtosis). KMO measure was perfect (> .90), indicating a sufficient sample size. Bartlett Test was significant, indicating that correlations between items were large enough for EFA. 2 Contact: [email protected]

aspects such as a good structure, usability for preparation, labwork and postprocessing etc. (see table 1 for example items). PraQ-A examines learning gains of students.

Table 3. Factor structure of PraQ-B. Items are displayed on the left, factors with label on the right side. High factor loadings indicate items with higher contribution to the factor and therefore for the construct measured. All relevant loadings are at least .50 with only four very small crossloadings (see explanation below), showing quite differentiable constructs. Page | 161

Loadings < .30 are not displayed. The benchmark for loading interpretation is: Not important: < .30 | minimal: [.30, .40] | OK: [.40, .50] | practically significant: > .50 (Hair et al., 1998, p. 111). Grey colour indicates at least minimal loadings, dark grey colour highlights crossloadings, meaning two loadings for one item which are greater or equal to .30.

The ongoing validation study still needs to show, whether the item structure is invariant across samples (validation 1, see fig. 2). A confirmatory factor analysis will examine whether the found structure leads to a good model fit with a different sample of lab participants. This will be done for PraQ-A and -B. Furthermore, inspection of construct validity is needed, proving, if PraQ really measures, what is intended. For this purpose, PraQ-A experimental competence scale is to be correlated with similar measures, namely a test on experimental competence (Straube, in print) and an experimental self-efficacy scale (Schroedter & Körner, 2012). Middle to high correlations would indicate good convergent construct validity here. On the divergent side, PraQ-A and -B are to be compared with a measure of lab social climate (adapted from Albrecht, 2011), we expect low correlations here. When validation is done, different labs can be compared in terms of lab quality. A first question could be for instance, whether chemistry labs differ substantially from physics labs and how one might be able to learn from each other.

Acknowledgments The study for PraQ is located within project TSL and is supported by BMBF, project SUPPORT.

References Albrecht, A. (2011). Längsschnittstudie zur Identifikation von Risikofaktoren für einen erfolgreichen Studieneinstieg in das Fach Physik. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin. Braun, E., & Gusy, B. (2006). Perspektivender Lehrevaluation. In G. Krampen & H. Zayer (Eds.), Didaktik und Evaluation in der Psychologie (pp. 152–166). Hogrefe Verlag. Braun, E., Gusy, B., Leidner, B., & Hannover, B. (2008). Das Berliner Evaluationsinstrument für selbsteingeschätzte, studentische Kompetenzen (BEvaKomp). Diagnostica, 54(1), 30–42. http://doi.org/10.1026/0012-1924.54.1.30 Csonka, N. (2014). Evaluation von Lehrveranstaltungen an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Praxisleitfaden für Evaluationsbeauftragte an Fakultäten und Instituten. In Schriftenreihe zum Qualitätsmanagement an Hochschulen (Vol. 8). Stabsstelle Qualitätsmanagement der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Emden, M. (2011). Prozessorientierte Leistungsmessung des naturwissenschaftlich-experimentellen Arbeitens: eine vergleichende Studie zu Diagnoseinstrumenten zu Beginn der Sekundarstufe I. Berlin: Logos.

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. Sage. Fraser, B. J., & McRobbie, C. J. (1995). Science Laboratory Classroom Environments at Schools and Universities: A Cross- National Study. Educational Research and Evaluation, 1(4), 289–317. Friedrich, H. R. (2005). Der Bologna-Prozess nach Bergen. Die Hochschule, (2), 114–135. Gutzler, T., Rehfeldt, D., & Nordmeier, V. (2014). TSL: Bedarfsanalyse in Praktika: Ein “neues” Werkzeug zur Strukturerfassung. In S. Bernholt (Ed.), Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung zwischen Science- und Fachunterricht: Gesellschaft Page | 162 für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik. Jahrestagung in München 2013. Münster: LIT. Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & William, C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (5th ed.). NJ: Prentice Hall. Haller, K. (1999). Über den Zusammenhang von Handlungen und Zielen. Eine empirische Untersuchung zu Lernprozessen im physikalischen Praktikum. Berlin: Logos. Hopbach, A. (2007). Qualifikationsrahmen für deutsche Hochschulabschlüsse. In Benz, Kohler, & Landfried (Eds.), Handbuch Qualität und Lehre. Berlin. Kreiten, M. (2012). Chancen und Potenziale web-basierter Aufgaben im physikalischen Praktikum. Universität zu Köln, Köln. Retrieved from http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/4719/ Lagowski, J. J. (2002). THE ROLE OF THE LABORATORY IN CHEMICAL EDUCATION. Presented at the International Conference on Chemical Education, Beijing. Lucas, R. E., & Baird, B. M. (2006). Global Self-Assessment. In M. Eid & E. Diener (Eds.), Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (pp. 29–42). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. Marsh, H. W., & Roche, L. A. (1997). Making students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness effective: The critical issues of validity, bias, and utility. American Psychologist, 52(11). Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: validation of inferences from persons’ responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50(9), 741. Nagel, C. C. (2009). eLearning im Physikalischen Anfängerpraktikum. Berlin: Logos. Prüfer, P., & Rexroth, M. (2005). Kognitive Interviews (No. 15). Mannheim: Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen. Retrieved from http://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/forschung/publikationen/gesis_reihen/howto/How_to15PP_MR.pdf Psillos, D., & Niedderer, H. (2002). Issues and Questions Regarding the Effectiveness of Labwork. In D. Psillos & H. Niedderer (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in the Science Laboratory (pp. 21–30). Netherlands: Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/0-306-48196-0_4 Rehfeldt, D., Mühlenbruch, T., & Nordmeier, V. (2015). Fragebogen zu Praktikumskompetenzen (PraKo): Erforschung naturwissenschaftlicher Praktika. In S. Bernholt (Ed.), Heterogenität und Diversität - Vielfalt der Voraussetzungen im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht: Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik. Jahrestagung 2014 (pp. 417–419). Kiel: IPN. Schreiber, N., Theyßen, H., & Schecker, H. (2012). Diagnostik experimenteller Kompetenz: ein Verfahrensvergleich. In S. Bernholt (Ed.), Konzepte fachdidaktischer Strukturierung für den Unterricht: Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik. Jahrestagung in Oldenburg 2011 (pp. 263–265). Münster: LIT. Schroedter, S., & Körner, H.-D. (2012). Entwicklung eines Fragebogens zur Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung beim Experimentieren (SWE_EX). In S. Bernholt (Ed.), Konzepte fachdidaktischer Strukturierung für den Unterricht: Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik. Jahrestagung in Oldenburg 2011 (pp. 164–166). Münster: LIT. Straube, P. (in print). Kompetenzen der Erkenntnisgewinnung Physik-Lehramtsstudierender. Freie Universität Berlin: Dissertation. Thiel, F., Blüthmann, I., & Watermann, R. (2012). Konstruktion eines Fragebogens zur Erfassung der Lehrkompetenz (LeKo). In B. Berendt & H. P. Voss (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre. Lehren und Lernen effizient gestalten. [Teil] I. Evaluation. Veranstaltungsevaluation. Berlin: Raabe. Zastrow, M. U. (2001). Interaktive Experimentieranleitungen. Berlin: Logos. Zwickl, B. M., Finkelstein, N., & Lewandowski, H. J. (2013). The process of transforming an advanced lab course: Goals, curriculum, and assessments. American Journal of Physics, 81(1), 63–70. http://doi.org/10.1119/1.4768890

Affiliation and address information Daniel Rehfeldt Physics Education Research Department of Physics Freie Universität Berlin Arnimallee 14 14195 Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected]

Galilean Relativity Conceptual Understanding versus Subjective Interpretation in Kinematics’ Problems: Cartesian Graphs and Questions

Marina Castells Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i de la Matemàtica. Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

Page | 163 Abstract The paper describes aspects of a research about conceptual understanding and reasoning in the field of Kinematics. The study is carried out with teachers’ trainees. The general aim is to know how students interpret Galilean relativity when they are asked to apply their knowledge of the subject to solving problems of Kinematics, and also to infer the influence of some factors related to the problems on the students' answers and forms of reasoning. This paper focuses on three of the problems that have the same situational context but that have many different and well defined characteristics. The information is collected through the students’ written answers to the problems and through several interviews. Techniques of qualitative and semi quantitative data analyses were used to obtain results. We divide the results into three types: students’ conceptual understanding of Galilean relativity and students' knowledge about interpretation and production of Cartesian graphs; the relationship between the students’ specific answers or reasoning and the problem’ characteristics; and students’ strategies or forms of reasoning not directly related with the cognitive demands of the problems. An interpretation of the results is discussed.

Keywords Galilean relativity, teacher training education, problem solving

Introduction

Background Problem solving has been a topic of research during many years, some of these researches tried to link competence in problem solving with conceptual understanding in several topics of science. Despite of the big quantity of research done in these fields, not much research has been done in relation to the topic of Galilean relativity or Special relativity, and only few studies concern Frames of Reference (Saltiel, 1978; Saltiel & Malgrange, 1980; Panse et al. 1994; Ramadas et al., 1996; Sherr et al., 2001), although some researches about Kinematics partially or indirectly related to Galilean relativity (Lie et al., 1985; Mc.Closkey, 1983; Whitaker, 1983; Ogborn, 1992). Some researchers about students’ spontaneous ideas in science agree that some parallelism may be established between the children’s ideas and its evolution with the age and some periods of the history of science (Piaget & Garcia, 1982; Clement, 1983; Saltiel & Viennot, 1985; Castells & Konstantinidou, 2010) and from this consideration some didactics proposal have been given, some beginning with the Galilean relativity and finishing with the Special relativity proposal (Taylor & Wheeler, 1991). On the other side, the interpretation and construction of graphs is a topic still present in science education research (Janvier, 1987; McDermott, et al. 1987). Experts recognize the importance of intuition and perception in the visual interpretation in science and in problem solving and, in particular the role of analogies and of the structures of knowledge named ‘elemental physical intuitions’ that students or experts may acute during problem solving without further explanation or justification (diSessa, 1983; 1988; Clement, 1993, 2008). Our research is also related with the researches that recognize the use by students of some general strategies of reasoning which seems independent of specific science topics (Andersson, 1986; Fauconnet, 1981; Viennot, 1996; Castells & Pintó, 2001).

Context of the study This paper reports aspects of a large research about students' ideas, conceptions and reasoning in the field of Kinematics carried on with Pre-service Primary Teachers’ Training students in the university. The general aim of that large research is to know how students interpret Galilean relativity when they are asked to apply their knowledge of the subject in solving several problems in which Galilean Frames of Reference (FR) intervene (Castells, 1997). The questions that the main study sought to answer can be summarized as follows: 1. What are the students’ patterns of behaviour when solving Kinematics problems with several Frames of Reference in the case of uniform rectilinear relative motion in a context situation of cars moving in a road? 2. What are the factors that influence these patterns?

Metodology of the research

The instruments to collect information Written answers to several qualitative problems were compiled in that main research. Of these problems, we can say that the majority are open and on real situations, the language of expression is near to the everyday language, although some of the problems give or ask in relation to Cartesian graphs, a formal language. We are interested Page | 164 to know if the students’ answers could be related to some specific characteristics of the problems. In this paper we focus only on three of these problems that have the same situational context, cars in motion in a straight road. These three problems have not exactly the same conceptual demands, although some of them coincide, as you can see below.

P.2 a)Description of a motion relative to a FR with uniform motion to the land b)Description of a velocity relative to a FR with uniform motion relative to the land. c)Graph of position relative to a FR with uniform motion relative to the land in function of the time P.3 a) Interpretation of a graph of uniform motions relative to land b) Identification of a graph of positions relative to a FR with uniform motion related to land in function of the time P.4 Description of a velocity relative to a FR with uniform motion relative to land. The problems 2 (Fig. 1) and 3 (Fig. 2) include a drawing that presents the situation of the problem and some Cartesian graphs which describe the types of motions of two cars in a road. Differently, the problem 4 (Fig. 4) is presented only with a verbal language. The problem 2 is complex. The is an everyday situation, but the language used to describe the facts and to inform about the type of motion of the cars is a formal language. The question a) is very open and expressed in everyday language, “how would you see the motion....?” which can be interpreted in a personal way. The question b) is more specific, it asks about the velocity of one of the cars, but adding: “seen from the other car”. This is not so common in the Physics typical classes. The question c) asks to sketch a graph of position of one of the cars relative to the other car in function of the time (this part of the question has a very formal form of expression like many common Physics classes problems), but it is added “which illustrates the motion of A seen by the driver of B (here, sees introduced an everyday form of expression, not very common in the problems of the tradicional Physics classes). (See the specific characteristics of the problem 3 in Fig. 2)

Figure 1. The problem 2

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Figure 2. Problem 3

P.4. You go by the road and through the driving mirror of your car, during a certain time, you can see a blue car always with the same size. At the same time, you see a red car that is next to you and which is overtaking to you. Your speedometer indicates always the same speed.

What could you say about the value and constancy of the velocity of the cars related to you? Explain your reasoning.

Figure 3. Problem 4 Figure 3. The problem 4

The sample Three classroom groups with three different Physics background answer the three problems [Physics in the Secondary education and in the University (3rd Sci), Physics in the Secondary education but not in the University (1st Sci.), not Physics in the Secondary education and not in the University (1st Not Sci)]. The number of students in the groups ranged between 25 and 50 students from Pre-service Primary Teacher Training in the University of Barcelona.

Table 2. Sample (Pre-service Primary Teacher Training) according to the problem and to the question Group Pr. 2 a) b) Pr. 3 a) b) Pr. 4 a) b) c)graphs 3rd Sci. 45 50/24 52 22 1st Sci. 28 33 28 28 1st Not Sci. 46 25 46 46

Interviews to 12 students contrasted and expanded the information collected through the written answers, but they are not commented in this paper.

Methodology of Analysis

The research is mainly qualitative. Techniques of qualitative and semi quantitative data analyses were used (systemic networks, students’ routes, means analysis by effects and residuals, contingency tables and chi-square, Page | 166 etc…). These techniques were used to analyse each problem and to build global summaries (Bliss, Monk & Ogborn, 1983; Erickson & Nosanchuck, 1983; Miles & Huberman, 1984). We illustrate the Systemic Network technique through the case of a specific problem, the P.2. Related to this problem, the main categories of this network are: Drawing, Procedure of answering the questions, Frame of Reference, the Type of Motion students attribute to the cars. In relation to the graph reading, we have the Correction in the interpretation of the graphs and the Methods used to interpret the graphs categories. Also, we add a category of Ideas used by students answering the questions. The Systemic Networks of the P.3 and P.4 have a lot of the categories that coincide with the ones of the P.2. This fact has been useful to do comparisons between problems and to extract global results from the partial results of the three problems.

Illustration of some categories of the Systemic Network of problem 2 The Drawing category is not illustrated because we didn’t have any relationship with other categories of the network. Procedure in answering the question a) This category includes two aspects: Method in solving the question a) (Ma1) and (Ma2) and Reference to cars in motion in question a) and/or b) (R).

Ma1 (Using positions / distances or velocities) 3rdPSci23: “The motion of the car A would be seen as moving to him (to B) with constant velocity, uniform motion (Method motion/velocities) (See the frequency of every category in Fig. 6). Ma2 (Referring to the overtaking) 1st DSci12: “I will see the motion of the car A when A starts from the point of 100m that it will go a head from me and at 300m, in the instant we pass each other, I will overtake it and I will not see it anymore.” (Method positions/distances + Overtaking) Reference cars in motion (R) This category Reference is found related to both questions a) and b). This includes the following categories: Yes, reference to cars in motion (R1), in this category students answer the questions a) and b1) referring the motion of the car A to a car B, and in the question b2) referring the motion of the car B to the car A. Not all the students of the category R1 answer both questions Relative to the cars in motion correctly in the meaning of the Physics, some of them situate in the car in motion as a Frame of Reference like the Physics (R11) but the other answer from a Perceptive point of view (R12) linked to the experience. We illustrated some of the categories below:

3rdSci9: a)“B will see A as if it approached with a constant velocity of value vR= vA - vB and negative, and that after that as if it went farer with a velocity of the same value.” (Part a) Physics reference car in motion R11) b)“vR = vA - vB; as vB > vA, B sees the velocity of A negative and smaller than the velocity that B has. vR= vB - vA; A sees a velocity of the same value that in the previous case, but they will see respectively in opposite direction” (Part b) Physics reference to car in motion R11)

3rdPSci5: b)“It seems as the car will move every time slower till I overtake him. He sees it from far distance and, after that, very quickly, it is just behind him and it overtakes him and the sensation is that it will go more quickly.” (Part b) Perceptive reference to car in motion R12)

-Yes (D11) (10) -(D1) -Not (D12) (100) Drawing (D)(110) -Realistic (D21)(4) -Type of Drawing (D2) (10) -Schematic (D22)(3) Page | 167 -Abstract (D23)(3) -Using distances/positions (Ma11)(17) (Ma1) -Using velocities/motions (Ma12)(54) -Using velocities+displacements(Ma13)(15 Procedure answering a) -Not answer (Ma14) (Ma) (119) -Yes (Ma21)(34) (Ma2) Overtaking -Not (Ma22)(52) : -Not answer (Ma23)(33) -a -b1 -b -b2 -as Physics FR (R11)(11)/(6) -Yes (R1) -as Perceptive Reference (R12)(6)/(13) -Reference (R) -Not (R2) (64)/(45) car in motion -Not clear (R3) (5)/(9) (119) -Not answer (R4) (33)/(46)

-With constant velociy (T1)(31)/(24) P.2 -With accele. (T21)(15)/(12) -Change at 30s(2)/(2) -Not accele. (T22)(7)(7)- a/b -Type of motion (T)(119)--Not const. vel.(T2- -Other(5)/(5) (22)/(20) -Other (T23)(34)/(29) -Not specified (T24)(34)/(29) -Not specified(T3)(34)/(29) -Not answer (T4)(36/46) -Correct (G111)(50) -Correction(G11) -Incorrect(G112)(18) -Not clear(G113)(18) -Interpretation -Positions(G1211)(11) (G1)(119) -aspect1 -Velocities(G1212)(46) (G121) -Pos.+Vel.(G1213)(30) -About the graph(G)(119 -Not clear (G1214)(4) -Method -Calcul.(G1221)(21) -aspect2 -Not calcul(G1222)(67) (G122) -Not clear (G1223)(31) -half (G21) (13) -Use of the graph (G2) -whole (G22)(43) -not clear (G23)(30) c) -Graph construction by students in problem 2 c) +++

Figure 4. Systemic Network of the problem 2

About the graph We identified several categories and subcategories that we collect in the below part of the network of problem 2 about question c): students’ graphs Interpretation (G1) and Use of the Graphs (G2). Related to the Interpretation (G1), we have two subcategories: Correction in interpretation (G11) and the Method used (G12) by the students to interpret (see Fig. 6).

In relation to the Method used to interpret the graph (G12), students use several methods to interpret the graphs. Some students interpret focusing on Positions (G1211) mainly how the positions change related to the origin of reference with the time. Other students focus on the Velocities (G1212), and also, some students Mix both positions and velocities (G1213).

A very interesting category for us, is the Use of the graph (G2), that means that some students can Use the whole graph (G22) in making their graph interpretation, or can Use only half of the graph (G21) (till the point of Page | 168 overtaking or from the point of the overtaking). This use of only half of the graph is an evidence of a type of reasoning, we can consider as a general strategy which is independent of the specific topic, for us, the category of the Simplification of the problem situation. In particular, in the group of 3rdSci we have a not small number of students (13) considering only half of the graph in their graph interpretation. We copy here two interesting answers: 1stKNotSci1:“If the time begins when the car B passes in front of the tree that means that it goes 100m ahead from the car A. The car A doesn’t appreciate the motion of B, because it goes behind it (in the same rectilinear stretch at 100m)” (Considering only half of the graphs (G21) 3rsSci: a) “A car moves ahead to me at a distance of 100m, but with constant velocity (6.6m/s) smaller than the mine (10m/s). At 300m I catch it and I follow moving with the same velocity till I overtake it. The car A arrives 10s later at the 500m.” (Interpretation by positions and velocities (G1213) The Graphs construction (C1) is collected as a network (See Figure 6). It includes two subcategories: Correction of the graphs construction in question c) (C11) and Types of graphs construction (C12).

The percentage of the students that answer correctly the question c) is very small in all the groups, but the worse thing is that many students don’t answer this question c) (68/70,8%). The biggest number of students not answering c) is found in 1stNotSci (28) which corresponds to a 60.9%. (See Figure 6) Here we introduce the part of the network related to the students’ Graphs Construction (C).

-Correct (C111) (5) -Correction(C11) -Incorrect (C112) (23) -Not clear (C113) (0)

-Relative to B (CTa) (16) -Intuitive (CTb) (4) -Answer (C1a) (28) -Types (CT) -By Translation (CTc) (3) -Presented (C1) (96) -With vel. axis (CTd) (1) -Diagram (CTe) (2) +++c)- -Not clear (CTf) (2) -with values on the graph -without values on the graphs -Not answer (C12) (68) -Not presented (23)

Figure 6. Systemic Network Graph construction by students problem 2 c)

Types of Graph students give answering c) (C12) There are several types of graphs students build answering the question c). The frequency in the majority of categories is very small, except the Relative to car in motion by positions (CTa1) in the higher level of students with scientific background, but taking account the small number of students answering question c), we consider these types of graphs to take in consideration. The category Relative graph (CTa) includes the students that try to represent the motion of the car, but only a few number of students belong to this category. The Not Relative graphs categories are very interesting because they show how far many students of our sample are from the formal language of the Physics, but also evidence the creative strategies students acute or invent to build a Cartesian graph. We illustrate these categories in the Table 3, except the category with velocity axis (CTd) because only have one graph of this type.

Table 3. Examples of types of Graph students give answering c) (CT)

Page | 169 CTa1 Graph of relative position to B near to be correct

CTa2 Graph relative to B by CTa positions with Graph error of signs relative to the car in motion CTa3 Graph relative to B by velocities (with mistakes or not corrections)

b) Till the 30s, the velocity of A is bigger, but from CTb intuitive these 30s, the velo-city of A is smaller.

CTd with velocities in an axis.

CTe Not Cartesian graph but diagram or drawing

Ideas of students about kinematics and its concepts In our initial network we have build the part of the network corresponding to the Ideas about Kinematics the students use in an explicit or implicit way. In this part of the network (Ideas Used, I) we count ideas (or focus) or students’ conceptions which can be erroneous or not, but that are very relevant because they can condition some students’ answers (See Figure 7).

Many of these ideas have been identified in other researches, and we have seen that they interlink with the interpretation of the given graph students made or on the difficulties they have to answer questions related to the Galilean relativity. But in this paper we don’t comment more about these Ideas because the size of the paper. These ideas are show by the students answering a), answering b).

-in (a)

-in (b) -How Page | 170 -explicitly -implicitly -not ideas -I11 (13) -Overtaking (I1) (30) *** -Ideas Used (I) -I12 (17) -I21 (4) -Which -Accelerated mot. (I2)(20) -I22 (14) -I23 (2) -I31 (2) -Confusion Vel. /Pos. (I3) (4) -I32 (2) -I41 (1) -Confusion Pos. /Accel. (I4)(3) -I42 (2)

Figure 5. Systemic network Ideas used interpreting the graph of problem 2

Results and interpretation

Students’ conceptual understanding of Galilean relativity and about Cartesian Graphs a) Students’ conceptual understanding of Galilean Relativity The conceptual understanding of this topic of Galilean relativity applied in the solution of the problems is poor in general, but the results at a functional level vary according to the particular problem or question. In these problems, the results related to the use of FR in motion, is the worse, surprisingly, in the problem 4. Despite of this, in general in all the problems, we identified a low use of frame of reference in motion (FR) in both, the students’ answers and in their reasoning. We find that some students may show some understanding of the relativity by position but the majority of students don’t accept the relativity of the velocity and neither the relativity of the graphs to a FR in motion; in some cases, students are able to answer the questions from a perceptive relative point of view to the FR in motion but not relative to the FR from a Physics point of view. Students evidence some misconceptions on Kinematics not directly related to the Galilean relativity but which can explain some incorrect answers of the proposed problems. Much of them are collected in the Ideas used about Kinematics and its concepts in P.2 but that similar ideas are identified also in the P. 4. and its concepts. b) Coherence and consistency among questions and problems Students tend to see equivalent problems in Physics as different regarding Galilean relativity. Students can also see several questions of the same problem as completely not related questions; we evidenced this aspect mainly in P.2. In fact, from our research we may say that the students’ comprehension of Galilean relativity at the operational level changed in accordance with the characteristics of the specific problem. c) Students’ knowledge about interpretation & construction of Cartesian graphs Related to the Cartesian graphs, the students’ competence to interpret and to draw these graphs is poor in general, this competence is worse in the construction of the graphs than in the interpretation of the given graphs. In particular, students have big difficulties to interpret graphs from a relative point of view, and some students do this in an intuitive or perceptive view. Related to the construction of the graphs, students don’t know how to draw graphs representing a motion relative to a FR in motion. This result expresses that the relativity of the motion is a topic still not well understood by students that have succeed the Physics in the Secondary education, and that also by students that had been able to pass the entrance exams at the university.

The relationship between the students’ specific answers or reasoning and the problem’ characteristics. Several factors that influence on the students’ answers and which are not directly related to the cognitive demands of the problems are inferred from our study. We distinguish between two types of factors:

1) Factors A that characterize the diversity of the problems presented to students. They include Technical or formal factors of the problems, among others, the way the questions are given to students (f.e., whether the question is open or closed, subjective or objective question, whether an answer is given or not, whether the question is presented with a diagram or graph, etc...), and Factors related to the cognitive demand of the question or the problem (i.e. whether it is performed from the FR in motion, at rest, FR-independent, about velocities, about trajectories, etc...). F.e., a cognitive demand involving velocities influences negatively on the use of the FR in motion in the answers. The influence of this factor may be raised by the influence of Page | 171 familiarity with the problem situation. 2) Factors B which intervenes in the students’ interpretation of the problems. These factors, not directly linked to the characteristics of the problems, are difficult to know before the application design of the problems (personal implication of students, procedures of students solving problems, ....). They comes from the personal interpretation students give to the problem and which relate to his/her specific experience, personal perception of the graphs, etc., which, in summary, can be considered related to subjectivity and familiarity. The most important factor identified is the student’s personal implication in the situation of a particular problem. If the question is worded subjectively, the student may answer the question according to the cognitive demand (to use a FR in motion, for example) in a very "realistic form“ (we can say by perceptions), and not in a formal Physics form, so, generally, the personal implication has a negative influence on the correctness of the answers. Our conclusion is that the tendencies of students’ categories of answers the problems may be explained by the influence of Factors A and of Factors B. Some general strategies or patterns of reasoning not directly related with the cognitive demands of the Problems Some general strategies of reasoning are recognized in the students’ answers or interviews, which are not directly related to the cognitive physics content of the problems. Some of these strategies coincide with those identified in other reports and can explain some students’ difficulties in interpreting Galilean relativity in several situations, and the difficulties encountered in solving problems with several FR in relative motion. We have exemplified the case of the general strategies by the Simplification strategy evidenced in the problem 2 that is specified here by the simplification of the graphs. Some students use only half of the graphs to interpret the graphs and to answer the questions. Other identified strategies are Local reasoning dividing a phenomenon into several stages, Doing suppositions or inventing data about the situation that are not in the problem presentation. Why students use one specific strategy in one problem is an issue not easy to be answer.

Final comments

Taking into account the influencing of A and B factors, the interpretation of students’ answers gains in significance and power. As a result, in designing a questionnaire with problems on real situations, we have to be very aware of the difficulty of anticipating all the factors of influence related to the characteristics of the problems. The identification of general strategies of reasoning not directly related to the cognitive demand of the problems has to be also considered. Surely the interrelation between the factors and the possible use of general strategies by the students may intervene in an intelinked way, many times not previsible. These two aspects bring us to say that some caution is required in our interpretation of the research results based on concrete questions, things are much more complex than they may initially appear. Research that focus on the reasoning of students in a not superficial way is not only convenient but very necessary to improve the teaching practice.

Acknowledgement Thanks to J. Paul Black and Roser Pintó by their support as PhD Directors. The paper is supported by ARCE–UB 2014 to GRIEC-UB and the Spanish MCYT grant EDU2013-47599-C2-2-P (Coord. Mercè Garcia-Milà) and the Catalan PRI 2013SGR1543 (Coord. Mariona Espinet).

References Andersson, B. (1986) The experiential gestalt of causation: a common core to pupils’ preconceptions in Science. European Journal of Science Education, 8(2), 155-171 Bliss, J., Monk, M.; Ogborn, J., (1983) Qualitativa Data Analysis for Educational Research. A guide to uses of systemic networks. London: Croom Helm Castells, M. (1997) Patterns of behaviour and factors of influence in solving kinematics problems of Galilean relativity. PhD. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Castells, M. & Pintó, R. (2001) Students’ reasoning strategies in solving qualitative problems of Galilean relativity. Proceedings of PHYTEB international Conference. (Barcelona: Elsevier)

Castells, M & Konstantinidou, A. (2010) Pre-Galilean comprehension of Trajectory Motion Understood by Nowadays Students. Is it Possible to overcome an ancient obstacle like this one? In: Roca-Rosell A. (eds), The Circulation of Science and Technology. Proceedings of the 4th ICESHS (pp. 117-124) Barcelona: SCHCT. Clement, J. (1983) A conceptual model discussed by Galileo and used intuitively by physics students. In D. Gentner & A. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models (pp. 325–339) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Clement, J. (1993) Using Bridging Analogies and Anchoring Intuitions to Deal with Students’ Preconceptions in Physics, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 30(10), 1241-1257 Page | 172 Clement, J. J. (2008) Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students. Springer Erickson. H. & Nosanchuck (1983) Understanding Data. London: Open University press. Milton Keynes Fauconnet, S. (1981) Étude de resolution de problemes de meme structure en physique, PhD. University of Paris 7 Janvier, C. (1987). Problems of representation in mathematics learning and problem solving. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lie, S.; Sjoberg, S.; Ekeland, R.; Enge, M. (1985) Ideas in Mechanics, a Norwegian study. The many faces of teaching and learning mechanics in secondary and early terciary education, GIREP/UNESCO, 255-276 McCloskey, M. (1983) Intuitive Physics. In: Scientific American, 4 (248), 114-122 McDermott, L. C., Rosenquist, M. L., & van Zee, E. H. (1987). Student difficulties in connecting graphs and physics examples from kinematics. American Journal of Physics, 55, 503–513. Miles, M. & Huberman, M. (1984) Qualitativa data Analysis. A source book of new methods. California: SAGE Publications Ogborn, J. (1992) Fundamental dimensions of thought about relativity: object, action, cause, movement, space and time. Teaching about reference frames: from Copernicus to Einstein, Proceedings of the Conference. Torun, Poland: GIREP, 101- 111 Panse, S.; Ramadas, J.; Kumar, A. (1994) The use of the Principle of Relativity in the interpretation of phenomena by undergraduate physics students. International Journal of Science Education, 21(3), 261-276 Piaget, J.; Garcia, R. (1982) Pscicogénesis e Historia de la Ciencia. De Aristóteles a la Mecánica del Impetus: La Mecanica Medieval, (pp.55-59). Siglo Veintiuno editors Pfund, H., & Duit, R. (1998) Bibliography: Students’s alternative framework and science education. Kiel: IPN (Institute for Science Education) Ramadas, J.; Barve, S.; Kumar, A. (1996) Alternative conceptions in Galilean Relativity: Inertial and non-inertial observers. International Journal of Science Education, 18 (5), 611-26. Saltiel, E. (1978) Concepts Cinématiques et raisonnements naturels: étude de la compréhension des changements de reference galiléens par les étudiants en sciences. PhD. Université de Paris 7. Saltiel, E.; Malgrange, 1980 Spontaneous’ ways of reasoning in elementary kinematics. European Journal of Science Education 1, 73-80 Saltiel, E.; Viennot, L. (1985) What do we learn from similarities between historical ideas and the spontaneous reasoning of students. In: Lyjnse, O. (Ed.) The many faces of teaching and learning Mechanics. Ed. Conference on Physics Education, GIREP, Utrecht, 199-214 diSessa, A. (1983) Phenomenology and the evolution of the intuition. In: Genter, D. & Stevens, Mental Models. (pp.15-33) Hillsdale and London: Lawrence Erlbaum diSessa, A. (1988) Knowledge in pieces. In: Forman, G.; Pufall, P.B. (eds) Constructivism in the computer age. (49-70) New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Taylor, E. & Wheeler, J. (1991) Space Physics, Introduction to Special Relativity. 2nd edition, W-H. Freeman and Company, New York Viennot, L. (1996) Raisonner in Physique. La part du sens commun, Pratiques Pédagogiques, Paris: De Boeck et Larcier Whitaker, R. (1983) An examination of students inconsistencies in their Understanding of Trajectory of Motion. In: Helm & Novack (Eds). The Proceedings of the International Seminar Misconceptions in Science and Mathematics. June 1983, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 402-406

Affiliation and address information Marina Castells Department of ‘Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i de la Matemàtica’ Universitat de Barcelona Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron, 171 08035 Barcelona Catalonia (Spain) e-mail: [email protected]

Testing the Effectiveness of Drama-Oriented Teaching Methods in a Physics Classroom

Arne Traun1 , Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer2 1Universtiy of Vienna, Austria 2University of Graz, Institute of Physics, Department of Didactics of Physics, Austria Page | 173 Abstract Can drama-oriented methods like LABUDDE’s (2009) analogical enactment of electrical circuits or of the behavior of water molecules at the transition from the frozen to the liquid and gaseous state provide more than livening up one’s Physics lesson? Are such methods actually effective for conceptual change (cf. Duit, 2008) and do they contribute to a more developed understanding not only of the model itself but also of the role that models play in Physics in general? While some Physics didactics authors as Martin KRAMER (2011) or the above cited LABUDDE (2009) made creative suggestions for drama-oriented classroom activities and provide compelling theoretical arguments for the use of drama-oriented methods in Physics education, the questions above had – at least to our knowledge – not yet been investigated by the means of an empirical study. Therefore, we set out to find answers in the course of a drama-oriented intervention which was carried out in three upper secondary Physics classrooms around Vienna in spring 2014 and evaluated by the use of standardized test items and several semi-structured interviews.

Drama-oriented methods do not necessarily have to be very dramatic – but they can!

We focused on the enactment of short, singular scenes which can be integrated easily in a traditional classroom setting and serve to represent and visualize a particular situation or event typical for Physics – for example the melting of ice on a molecular level, as described above. A rough distinction can be made between more complex drama-like scenes and less preparation-intensive kinaesthetic scenes. The term ‚kinaesthesia’ refers to the senses of limb position and movement. It is not to be confused with the commercial program of so-called ‘Educational Kinesiology’ (also known as ‘Edu-K’ or ‘Brain Gym®’) which scientific studies found to be ineffective (cf. Hyatt, 2007; Proske and Gandevia, 2009) While a drama-like scene would typically involve more traditional dramatic elements (e. g. a defined stage area, items which serve as props or costumes, particular light settings, such as using an overhead projector as a spotlight, conscious use of sound(s) or music and – maybe the most significant factor – defined roles or characters with human-like emotions) a kinaesthetic scene is focused primarily on the physical representation of a certain Physics content by the means of the students’ bodies without much attention to other dramatic elements. Of course, in practice the lines can be rather blurred between these two types of scenes – for example a Physicist may argue that playing a sense- and emotionless water molecule is not a real role in the typical sense of drama and that therefore the associated ‘boiling scene’ is a kinaesthetic one. However, from the students’ point of view, emotions (e. g. ‘going wild’ when boiling) may be connected to the behavior of the molecules and they might actually perceive their role as a molecule as a real, dramatic one. An example for a less ambiguous case would be the demonstration of the dependence of orbital speed on the distance from the axis of rotation in any circular motion with a steady frequency. This can be done as a kinaesthetic scene by taking the class out in the school’s yard (or the gym) and let 2 or 3 students run in a circle while they are holding on to different points along a long, horizontal pole, which is fixed to a second, vertical pole at one end (or held tight by another student) that represents the axis of rotation. The students will immediately grasp that the outermost student has to run the fastest – so the connection between the orbital speed and the distance from the axis can be easily made, without any particular roles being assigned to the students. While we do not generally favour kinaesthetic scenes over dramatic ones, we decided to focus our research on kinaesthetic scenes as probably only few Physics teachers also have experience in teaching drama and many may therefore hesitate to use drama-like scenes in their classrooms. Furthermore, drama-like scenes would typically require a more time-consuming preparation (props, light, sound, etc.) and a longer reflection phase, as not only the Physics content but also the role itself may need to be reflected upon. For example, if a student is assigned the role of a ruthless industrial lobbyist in a drama-like scene on climate change, the teacher should provide for this student the opportunity to reflect upon how it felt to play that particular unpleasant role – in order to make it possible for him or her to drop the role by taking a meta perspective upon it (Kramer, 2008). However, providing time for a reflection phase is necessary from a didactical point of view also for kinaesthetic scenes, because it assures that content, which previously was only physically represented, is also verbalized. This is crucial, because only content, which has been (re)presented verbally can also be encoded verbally (Winkel, Petermann and Petermann, 2006) – and therefore understood and dealt with on an abstract, verbal basis (which is

not only important regarding traditional tests which typically demand a verbal and not only iconic answer, but also with respect to connecting the new content to existing verbally encoded content). The reflection phase also serves to clarify misunderstandings which might occur during the work on kinaesthetic scenes and to ensure that all students have access to the same (correct) model in case group work takes place.

The Lesson’s Content: Insolation, Climate & Milankovitch Cycles

Page | 174 There were several reasons to choose the Earth’s insolation by theSunas the content for our intervention:  According to the ROSE- study (The Relevance of Science Education), Astronomy is a topic, which is about equally appealing to both girls and boys (Elster, 2007) Therefore, no gender bias on the basis of gender specific interests has to be taken into account.  The content had to be feasible for a drama-oriented adaptation. While certainly not all Physics contents can be transformed into kinaesthetic scenes, MORROW and ZAWASKI (2004) already showed that a kinaesthetic adaption of the Earth-Sun system is possible.  The insolation of the Earth by theSunis covered by several reliable standardized test items of the science assessment Project 61 by the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science, online), which made devising a sound standardized test relatively easy. The target group for our intervention was already at upper secondary level because we also wanted to look into the method’s effect on the concept of models in which different models of the same content were presented within one lesson. As a consequence, we decided not only to teach the ‘basic model’ of Earth’s insolation by theSun(meaning fixed orbital parameters – as for example a fixed axial tilt of 23.5°), but also the less known Milankovitch cycles and their long term effects on the Earth’s climate. The Milankovitch model takes periodical long term changes in the orbital parameters (see Figure 1 (Soucre: IPCC)): precession of the Earth’s axis, changes in its inclination towards the orbital plane, changes of the orbit’s eccentricity) into account and connects the resulting changes in the distribution of insolation over the year (respectively the hemispheres) to long term climate change (as the occurrence of ice ages) on Earth.

Figure 1. Milankovitch cycles: Eccentricity (E), Tilt (T) and Precession (P) (IPCC, 2007)

The Sample and Methodology of the Intervention

After the first lesson plan was elaborated an acceptance survey with 3 students was carried out, after which the details of the lesson plan were adapted according to its results (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Research Design

Three upper secondary Physics classes (10th & 11th grade, N=51), coded WPF, GYM and BAKIP in 3 different schools in Vienna and its surrounding areas were selected for the intervention. A pre-test with a short, standardized self-evaluation questionnaire of interest and ability in Physics (7 selected PISA-items (Kunter, 2006)) and 9 content based standardized AAAS-test items was carried out about 3 weeks before the intervention took place. The PISA-items for self-evaluation showed significant differences in the interest/ability ratings between the three classes (see Figure 3). Page | 175

Figure 3. Self Evaluation of Performance & Ability Directly after the 75 minute long intervention, 25 minutes were dedicated to the post-test, consisting of the same items as the pre-test, but in different order and with shuffled answers. Additionally, a questionnaire on motivation, which was specifically targeted on the lesson parts with kinaesthetic group work, was added. The items for this questionnaire were selected and adapted from a motivation survey developed by KORNER et al., (2012). After the lesson, students were asked to volunteer for short, semi-structured interviews, of which 4 were carried out in total.

Figure 4: The Lesson’s Timeline

The intervention itself consisted of two parts, dealing first with the basic model of insolation and only in the second part with the advanced Milankovitch-model. Both parts started with a traditional introduction phase, and then featured kinaesthetic scenes for group work and finally a plenary phase for reflection and discussion on the group work tasks (see Figure 4). Those group tasks involved mainly dramatic reconstructions of selected orbital constellations between the Earth and the Sun. While MORROW & ZAWASKI (2004) suggest the use of the student’s body to represent the Earth, we favoured using objects (a balloon as theSunand an orange pierced with a chopstick as the Earth – see Figure 5). We found that several effects of Earth’s insolation by theSuncan only be understood if one takes the spherical shape of the Earth into account, which is not adequately represented in MORROW & ZAWASKI’s (2004) approach. Additionally, a cardboard stencil was used to illustrate the division of the day & night hemispheres on Earth as clearly as possible in the plenary phase (see Figure 6).

Page | 176

Figure 5. An Orange Representing the Earth Figure 6. Night and Day Hemispheres on Earth

An example for a group work task from the first part of the lesson (basic model): Task 2) Summer solstice: Where on Earth do the sun’s rays hit at a right angle during a day (simulate the Earth’s rotation!) at the summer solstice (reconstruct [the astronomical constellation]!)? Mark that line as exactly as possible on the orange!

A group work task concerning the Milankovitch - model: Task 4) Experiment now with the tilt of the Earth’s axis: Simulate a larger and a smaller inclination of the Earth’s axis during the same season. Consider: How does the inclination of the Earth’s axis affect the seasons?

Test Instruments

As described above, the items for testing content knowledge were adapted from Project 61 by the AAAS. Nine test items were selected, of which seven were testing for insolation-related knowledge, while two concerned knowledge about the use of models. The items were translated into German and then independently re-translated into English by a third party, after which the re-translation was compared with the original items for possible misleading translations. Two examples for test items (original version in English, as they can be found on the AAAS website after creating a free account) are: Item Nr. 2: Two students who live in different places are outside in the sunlight at the same elevation at the same instant on a clear day. Would the sunlight be more intense at place 1 or at place 2?

A) At Place 1, because the sunlight travels a shorter distance to get there. B) At Place 1, because it is closer to being directly beneath the sun. C) At Place 2, because it is later in the day there. D) At Place 2, because it is closer to the equator.

Item Nr. 7: An engineer made a model of a ship to help him think about how it works. He made sure that some characteristics of the ship were accurately represented, but he did not include all of the ship's characteristics in his model. Is it okay that he ignored some of the ship’s characteristics?

A) It is okay, but only if he represented the characteristics that affect how the ship works, because models need to include the characteristics that are relevant to what is being studied. B) It is okay, but only if he represented the characteristics that affected whether the model looks like the ship, because models should look like the things that they represent. C) It is okay, but only if he represented the characteristics that people would be interested in knowing about, because models are only used to communicate information to others. D) It is not okay that he ignored some of the ship's characteristics. A model should be like the object it is representing in every way possible. As it can be seen in Figure 7, for some of the content knowledge test items (most of all items nr. 2, 3 and 7) the post-test score improved significantly, when compared with the pre-test results, while for other items (nr. 8 and 9) the post-test score did not improve very much.

Effect Size of the Intervention 2

1,5 Cohens d 1 Page | 177 1,76 1,51 1,27 0,5 0,95

0 Class WPF Class BAKIP Class GYM Overall

Figure 7. Right Answers per Item in Pre- & Post-Test Figure 8. Effect Size of the Intervention in Cohen’s d

The overall effect size of the intervention was high with a Cohen’s d of 0.95, while being even higher in the single classes (see Figure 8).

The motivation survey concerning the kinaesthetic group work consisted of 10 selected items, which were developed by KORNER et al. (2012) based upon the self-determination theory of motivation by DECI & RYAN (2000). The items tested for three sub-scales of motivation: (1) Perceived Competence; (2) Interest/Enjoyment and (3) Effort/Importance. The results of this motivation test can be seen in Figure 9.

Motivation in Kinaesthetic Group Work

Interest/Enjoyment Perceived Competence Effort/Importance Overall Motivation

5

4,5

4 3,5

3 2,5

2 1,5

1 Class WPF Class BAKIP Class GYM All Classes

completely" "I agree= to 5 at all" agree "I don't 1 = combined

Figure 9. Motivation in Kinaesthetic Group Work

Conclusions and Implications

In total, the item-specific analysis of the pre- and post-test results (see Figure 7) seems to support the results for the intervention’s high effectiveness (see Figure 8), showing medium to large increases in correct answers on content related items. However, items 8 and 9 do not fit into that pattern, showing only a minor increase. For item 9 it can be argued that there was simply not much potential for an increase, as the percentage of correct answers was already quite high with 85% in the pre-test, which then increased to 92% in the post-test. However, with a relatively low score of 64% correct answers in the pre-test, this argument cannot explain the extremely low increase in correct answers (only 3% increase) in item 8, which implicitly concerned the use of models. The good results for item 7 (26% increase), which explicitly dealt with the use of models (see test

instrument example above), suggest that the reason for this may not be that the students did not acquire any explicit knowledge about the use of models through the intervention, but rather that there might be a problem with transferring explicit knowledge about the use of models to implicitly phrased tasks. The self-evaluation of interest, performance and ability (PISA-items) corresponded to the actual performance of the students in the content-related test. Compared with the mean values, class WPF consistently performed above average, class GYM about averagely and class BAKIP below average in both the pre- and post-test. That said, the high value of Cohen’s d in class Gym (see Figure 8) suggests that the method seems to be best suited for the Page | 178 use in average-performing classes in our sample. While students who perform below average may be overly challenged with the sometimes complex kinaesthetic tasks, students who perform above average might feel that enacting things in Physics is childish and therefore do not take the method seriously.i The results of the motivation test also hint towards that conclusion: Compared to the other classes, the high performing class WPF reports the lowest ratings in the Interest/Enjoyment category, while the low-performing class BAKIP has the lowest ratings in the categories of Perceived Competence and Effort/Importance. Class GYM has relatively high ratings in all three sub-scales and therefore reports the highest overall motivation – which is also consistent with the intervention being most effective in this class. A comparison of the data presented in Figure 9 with motivation data (for the same items as used in this survey) collected by KORNER (2012) on other cooperative learning methods (e. g. cross age peer-tutoring) showed that the overall motivation rating was slightly lower for the kinaesthetic method when compared with other cooperative methods. This was caused by the relatively low Perceived Competence and Effort/Importance ratings, while the ratings on the sub-scale Interest/Enjoyment were a bit higher than those reported on other methods. So, while kinaesthetic tasks in our sample seem to be both effective for conceptual change and enjoyable for the students, it still has to be looked into how they can be improved to make students feel more competent when using them and in which contexts the students see them as something in which good performance is important to them. As the intervention was rather short and the sample rather small (N=51), the conclusions may serve as indications for the situation in the general population, but should not be generalized. A long-term study with a larger sample and a direct comparison with different methods (e. g. teaching similar topics in the same class with different methods or teaching the same topic in different classes with different methods) would be desirable to validate the results of this study for the general population and to clear up some of the questions that remain. Some students reported in the semi-structured interviews that they believed that the method could have a positive effect on the memorability of contents. This claim would be consistent with theory in so far as kinaesthetic tasks may very well be more easily encoded in the episodic memory than traditional ones – therefore, they might be easier to remember. However, whether that also goes for the content of such tasks would be a question well worth further investigations on the matter.

References American Association for the Advancement of Science: AAAS Science Assessment. Project 2061. Online: http://assessment.aaas.org/pages/home [Stand 15.10.2015] DECI, Edward L.; RYAN, Richard M.: Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. In: American Psychologist. Vol. 55, Nr. 1, January 2000, p. 68-78. Online: http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2000_RyanDeci_SDT.pdf [Stand 15.10.2015] DUIT, Reinders; TREAGUST, David F.: Conceptual change: a discussion of theoretical, methodological and practical challenges for science education. In: Cultural Studies of Science Education. Vol. 3, Nr. 2, July 2008, p. 297-328 [Stand 15.10.2015] ELSTER, Doris: In welchen Kontexten sind naturwissenschaftliche Inhalte für Jugendliche interessant? Ergebnisse der ROSE Erhebung in Österreich und Deutschland. In: Plus Lucis 3/2007, p. 2-8. Online: http://pluslucis.univie.ac.at/PlusLucis/073/s2_8.pdf [Stand 15.10.2015] HYATT, K. J.: Brain Gym®: Building stronger brains or Wishful Thinking? In: Remedial and Special Education. Vol. 28, March/April 2007, p. 117-124 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007. Working group I: The Physical Science Basis. Online: https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/box-ts-6-figure-1.html [Stand 15.10.2015] KRAMER, Martin: Physik als Abenteuer. Band I: Didaktik, Akustik, Optik, E-Lehre und Kernphysik. Aulis Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2011 KRAMER, Martin: Schule ist Theater. Theatrale Methoden als Grundlagen des Unterrichts. Reihe: Grundlagen der Schulpädagogik. Ed.: WINKEL, Rainer et al., Band 60. Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2008, p. 168-169

KORNER, Marianne; URBAN-WOLDRON, Hildegard; HOPF, Martin: Entwicklung eines Messinstrumentes zur Motivation. In: BERNHOLT, Sascha [Hrsg.]: Konzepte fachdidaktischer Strukturierung für den Unterricht. LIT Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 98-100 KUNTER, Mareike et al.: PISA 2000: Dokumentation der Erhebungsinstrumente. Max Planck Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin 2002, p. 106 and: PISA-Konsortium Deutschland [Ed.]: PISA 2003. Dokumentation der Erhebungsinstrumente. Waxmann, Münster 2006, p. 265 LABUDDE, P.: Chapter 10.3: Gespielte Analogien - modellhaftes Lernen. In: KIRCHER, Ernst; GIRWIDZ, Raimund; Page | 179 HÄUßLER, Peter: Physikdidaktik. Theorie und Praxis. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg 2009, p. 410 – 416 MORROW, Cherilynn; ZAWASKI, Michael: Kinesthetic Astronomy. Lesson One: Sky time. On the Astronomical Meaning of the Day, Year and Seasons. Space Science Institute, Boulder Colorado, 2004. Online: http://www.spacescience.org/education/extra/kinesthetic_astronomy/KASkTimeAug04_lr.pdf [Stand 15.10.2015] PROSKE, Uwe; GANDEVIA, Simon C.: The kinaesthetic senses. In: The Journal of Physiology. Vol. 587, Pt. 17, September 2009, p. 4139 – 4146. WINKEL, Sandra; PETERMANN, Franz; PETERMANN, Ulrike: Lernpsychologie. Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2006, p. 146

Affiliation and address information Claudia Haagen-Schützenhöfer Institute of Physics Department of Didactics of Physics University of Graz Universitätsplatz 5 8010 Graz Austria e-mail: [email protected]

Arne Traun Gymnasium Sacre Coeur Pressbaum Klostergasse 12 3021 Pressbaum Austria e-mail: [email protected]

Page | 180

Part III

Teaching-Learning Practices and Classroom Ideas

Teaching Energy in the Light of the History and Epistemology of the Concept

Manuel Bächtold, Valérie Munier, Muriel Guedj, Alain Lerouge, André Ranquet LIRDEF - University of Montpellier & UPVM, France

Abstract Page | 181 In this paper, we argue that history of science and epistemology can be very helpful to understand the meaning of the concept of energy and its role in physics. This has led us to build and implement a new strategy for teaching energy at high school based on the history and epistemology of the concept. This teaching strategy is characterized by two specific tools: an “energy ID map” and a teaching sequence centred on Joule’s paddle- wheel experiment and Rankine’s definition. We present and discuss the way this teaching strategy has been build and a selection of outcomes concerning its implementation.

Keywords Energy teaching, history of science, epistemology, Joule, Rankine.

Introduction

Energy is a fundamental concept of physics, which allows to explain and predict all kinds of phenomena. It is therefore considered as a “big idea” to be taught in school (National Research Council, 1996, Lee & Liu, 2010, Eisenkraft et al., 2014). However, many studies have pointed out the fact energy is very difficult to learn:  It is a highly abstract concept, so that its meaning is not obvious to grasp (Warren, 1982, Millar, 2005).  It is embedded in a very complex conceptual network. Indeed, energy is closely related to other quantities, such as force, temperature or power. This leads students to make many confusions, as for instance between force and energy (Watts, 1983).  Moreover, energy itself has numerous features: it can take different forms, it can be transformed, transferred, dissipated, and it is conserved. Understanding the feature of conservation, which is a principle of physics, implies at least having grasped all the other features. For this reason, only a minority of students at high school are able to apply this principle correctly (Solomon, 1985, Trumper, 1990, Neumann et al., 2013).  Moreover, when dealing with socio-scientific issues, like sustainable development, energy is described differently: like a fuel which can be produced or consumed, what at first glance seems to conflict with energy conservation. As stressed by Solomon (1983) and Lijnse (1990), students are therefore facing “two worlds”, that is, two ways of dealing with energy. The problem for students is then to connect this common-sense approach to the scientific approach. Because of all these learning difficulties, more recent studies have highlighted the fact that the students, to understand and master the concept of energy, have to follow a “learning progression” (Lee & Liu, 2010, Nordine et al., 2011, Neumann et al., 2013, Duit, 2014). For this reason, we see the need for a teaching progression for energy throughout schooling (Colonnese et al., 2012, Lacy et al. 2014, Bächtold et al., 2014). All agree that the endpoint of this progression should be the principle of energy conservation. Two specific issues concerning the teaching progression for energy have hardly been discussed yet. The first one concerns the definition of energy: should teachers provide their students with a definition, and if so, what definition and at which year of schooling? This is not obvious since the very question of how to define energy remains debated: some consider that there is no satisfactory definition and that energy should be described merely as a conserved quantity (Sexl, 1981, Duit, 1981, 2014, Trumper, 1991); other are putting forward Rankine’s definition of energy as the “capacity of a system to perform changes” (Warren, 1991, McIldowie, 2004, Doménech et al., 2007), which is however controversial. The other issue concerns the role of energy in physics. As Papadouris and Constantinou (2015) have stressed, an essential role of this concept is to contribute to the unification of physics. A question in this respect is: how can teachers help students understanding the unifying role of energy and at which grade is it the most suitable? In this paper, we will first argue that history of science and epistemology can help us to understand these issues (section 2). We will then present a new teaching strategy at high school which relies on the history and epistemology of the concept. This teaching strategy has been implemented by three teachers. After describing how this teaching strategy has been build (section 3), we will expose and discuss a selection of outcomes concerning its implementation (section 4).

Contribution from the history of science and epistemology

Let us emphasize two important steps of the history of energy (Kuhn, 1959, Heimann, 1973, Elkana, 1974, Lindsay, 1975, Harman, 1982, Smith, 2003). This concept has been introduced in physics in the middle of the 19th century. In the first part of this century, scientists made various experiments viewed as “conversion” processes between different kinds of phenomena, i.e., phenomena which were usually described in the frame of Page | 182 distinct branches of physics. For instance, Faraday’s experiment in 1821 (rotation of a wire around a magnet when electrical current flows in it) showed the link between electricity and movement, or Joule’s experiments in 1845 and 1847 (increase of water temperature when falling weights cause the rotation of paddles in the water) established a link between movement (or “living force”) and heat (see figure 1).

electricity motion motion heat Faraday, 1821 Joule, 1845, 1847

www.sparkmuseum.com www.gutenberg.org/files/38384/38384-h/images/fig86.png

Figure 1. Two examples of conversion processes.

This was a first important step in the history of energy, or rather in the prehistory of energy since this concept was not yet introduced. Scientists still had to develop conceptual tools allowing to explain how the different kinds of phenomena were linked together, that is, how heterogeneous quantities (e.g., living force and heat) could be converted into one another. In this regard, a second important step was the interpretation of these conversion processes in terms of energy transformations. More precisely, instead of considering the mutually convertible quantities at play to have different natures, Thomson and Rankine proposed that these quantities be viewed as instances of the same quantity named “energy”. Thereby, they could describe the conversion processes as changes of one form of energy into another, such that the amount of energy at the end of the process was assumed to be equal to the amount of energy at the beginning. That is to say, conservation of energy was implied by the idea of transformation of energy. Furthermore, in order to justify this interpretation, Thomson and Rankine proposed to define energy as the capacity of a system to perform changes. By means of this definition, they could conceive of the various mutually convertible quantities (e.g., living force and heat) as instances of the same quantity (i.e., energy). Indeed, these quantities are equivalent with respect to the capacity of the systems under consideration to produce the same changes (e.g., the increase of temperature or the change in velocity of a body). History of energy combined with epistemology helps here to understand two important points. First, the concept of energy enables to interpret the conversion processes, and thereby provides a conceptual frame to link different kinds of phenomena. In other words, it contributes to unify physics. Second, conservation of energy and Rankine’s definition are key aspects of the rise of the energy concept, giving meaning to it. Now the first point helps to understand the unifying role of energy: not only is energy useful in every branches of physics in order to describe and predict the phenomena; this concept also enables to establish links between these different branches of physics. If students become aware of this point, they may understand why energy is so important in physics, and why energy is introduced in many parts of their physics curriculum. As for the second point, it sheds light on the meaning of the concept. All authors in physics education agree on the idea that teachers should present energy conservation to their students as a fundamental feature of this quantity. Whereas for Rankine’s definition, there is no consensus: some authors consider this definition should be given to students while others point out various reasons not to do so (see references above). Let us stress that if no definition of energy is provided to students, they may rely on their initial conceptions, which often differ significantly from the scientific concept of energy (see for instance Watts, 1983, Trumper, 1993). In this regard, Rankine’s definition offers a conception of energy alternative to the initial erroneous conceptions of students. It may help them overcoming their initial conceptions and grasping the meaning of the concept.

Towards a new teaching strategy for energy

History of science and epistemology help us to understand the meaning of the concept of energy and its role in physics. For this reason, we assume they are also very useful to discuss the way energy can be taught and to

conceive new strategies (Bächtold & Guedj, 2012, 2014). Moreover the French official instructions (MEN, 2010) are promoting the introduction of some elements of history of science: “to introduce pupils to the history of the construction of scientific knowledge is source of inspiration for intellectual freedom, critical mind and the will to persevere”. This led us to build and test a new teaching strategy at high school based on the history and the epistemology of the concept.

Method for building the teaching strategy Page | 183 Let us first present the method for building this teaching strategy. For obvious practical reasons, it is difficult to carry out a long-term studies, that is, to implement a teaching strategy with the same students throughout schooling. If we intend to implement a given teaching strategy, we are compelled to select a specific grade. Now, our study is carried out in France. According to the French official instructions, the conservation principle has to be introduced at grade 11 (with 16-17 years old students). Moreover, at this grade, many chapters deal with the concept of energy (i.e., chapters on light, Bohr’s atom model, nuclear reactions, thermal effects, mechanics and electricity), and one of them addresses the socio-scientific issues related to energy (the chapter on electricity). It is therefore a key year of the energy curricula. For this reason, we chose to focus our study on grade 11 and to develop a teaching strategy located in the last part of a possible teaching progression for energy. To build this teaching strategy, we took into account the literature concerning the learning difficulties associated to energy, the various teaching strategies proposed in this literature, and the recent discussion about teaching progression (see references in section 1). More importantly, our strategy is based on the historical and epistemological analysis presented briefly in section 2. To develop this strategy in details, we undertook a collaborative work with three teachers. Monthly meetings of two and half hours were organized during one school year. Work at-distance was carried out in-between. There are two main reasons for this collaborative work. First; we wanted to take into account the usual practices of the teachers, and thereby develop a strategy that can reconcile the aims of our study and the constraints of the school environment which are very strong in France. Second; we assume that the implementation of such a strategy based on history of science and epistemology requires specific skills; therefore, our meetings with the teachers were also intended to enable a suitable professional development.

The proposed teaching strategy The teaching strategy that has been developed can be viewed as a first outcome of our study. It is characterized by two specific tools: an “energy ID map” and a teaching sequence centred on Joule’s paddle-wheel experiment and Rankine’s definition. Let us first describe briefly the teaching sequence. Its duration is planned to be about 6 hours. It is composed of five steps:  The first step consists in studying selected historical texts written by Joule. The aim is to present to students the historical context around 1850 concerning physics and technology (just before the introduction of the concept of energy), but also to discuss the distinction between energy and force (which were not clearly differentiated at this time), and the competing conceptions of heat (viewed either as a conserved substance or mechanically).  In a second step, Joule’s paddle-wheel experiment is introduced. This experiment is of great interest insofar as it shows that energy transformation is a notion allowing to connect different kinds of phenomena, namely movement and heat, usually described in the frame of distinct branches of physics.  A third step amounts to introduce Rankine’s definition of energy. The purpose of steps 2 and 3 is to show the rise of the concept of energy.  In the next step, students have to imagine and test an experiment similar to the one of Joule (i.e., an experiment where movement is used to increase the temperature of water). This experiment is presented as a challenge and has to be carried out within small groups.  Finally, students had to resolve an exercise on Joule’s experiment, with mathematical calculations. This exercise is a means to introduce and discuss the notions of dissipation and conservation. This step is followed by a synthesis on energy made by the teacher.

The teaching strategy is also intended to ensure a coherence during the school year (i.e., at grade 11) between the different sequences dealing with energy. To do so, connections are made between the sequences by means of the concept of energy, and the conservation principle is applied in the sequences following the one described above. As a support for making these connections, we developed a tool called the “energy ID map” which has to be filled out and used by students throughout the year (see figure 2). It provides moreover a framework to distinguish the features of energy being usually confused.

Energy ID map

1687 1847 1855 1900 1905 1913 1930

Newton Joule Thomson Planck Einstein Bohr Pauli Rankine

Forms of energy Modes of transfer Sources of energy DE renewable non renewabe Page | 184

Power

Principe of energy Effects conservation Unities

Figure 2. The energy ID map.

Moreover, when dealing with socio-scientific issues, we propose that the teacher has an explicit discussion on the terms “energy production, lost…” and on how it can be translated in terms of energy transformation which does not involve absolute lost, i.e. energy destruction (Bächtold & Munier, 2014). This discussion is intended to help students facing the two ways to deal with energy and to avoid possible confusion concerning energy conservation. Here, the ID map can be a useful reminder. The three teachers involved in this collaborative work were very interested by the historical approach. For instance, they proposed to incorporate the timeline in the ID map (see the top of figure 1). They also asked for more historical information so as to use it in their classroom. They participated with enthusiasm to the specific way in which students had to imagine and test their replication of Joule’s experiment. For instance, they proposed that students make a video recording of their experiment and discuss its limits and possible improvements.

Assessment of the teaching strategy on energy

Method for assessing the teaching strategy Let us turn now to the method for testing the strategy.

Context: The teaching strategy has been implemented in four classrooms at grade 11, in three different high schools. The level of the students is described by the teachers as low.

Data collection and analysis: The sequences have been recorded with two cameras, one following the teacher, the other in front of the students. Classroom field notes were also taken. Moreover, two collective interviews with the three teachers were carried out. During one of these interviews, selected parts of the video recordings were showed and discussed. Students’ conceptions and their skills concerning energy have been assessed by means of two similar questionnaires, one submitted at the beginning of the school year, the other one month after the last sequence on energy, without asking students to revise their courses on energy.

Outcomes concerning the implementation of the teaching strategy We present now a selection of outcomes concerning the implementation. Based on teachers’ feedback and video analysis, we observed the following points concerning various aspects of the teaching strategy:  Some parts of the study of the historical texts were viewed by some teachers as too complex, especially those on the competing conceptions of heat. Nevertheless, teachers showed a great interest for history of science, but more for cultural literacy than as a tool for energy teaching.  Teachers found the replication of Joule’s experiment very motivating for students, to raise their interest for energy. When observing students in the video recordings, this experiment appeared as a good opportunity to understand the notion of energy transformation. Several students referred to the transformation of kinetic into thermal energy. Besides, there was maybe too much time devoted to the technical dimension of the experiment.  Teachers considered that the exercise on Joule’s experiment was well done by students. However, much attention was paid on the calculus. The fundamental notions of dissipation and conservation, as well as the definition of the studied system, were hardly discussed.

 One teacher made little use of the energy ID map; while for the two other teachers, it was a guideline of their teaching. They emphasized its role of binding between the sequences.  The other sequences during the year were not entirely implemented because of time constraints. Some other parts of the program were considered as more important, because of institutional expectation. Especially, the socio-scientific issues were not tackled, so that the idea of “energy lost” was not clarified further. Page | 185 Let us look finally at the students’ assessment. How do students describe energy? Have they managed to grasp the meaning of the concept? We see (figure 3), at the end of the year, that only a minority is able to give a general and suitable description, like the one of Rankine. Many describe energy in relation to one branch of physics; 19%, for instance, associate energy to motion. Only a minority mentions conservation, and most of them misunderstand this property: they say that energy can be conserved or lost. Many students still view energy as a kind of force.

At the beginning At the end

of the year of the year Rankine’s definition 10% 25% Motion 12% 19%

6% (without misunderstandings) Conservation 0% + 18% (with some misunderstandings) Force 31% 33% No answer 18% 25%

Figure 3. The way students describe or define energy (in their answers to the two following questions: “What is energy?” and “What are the properties of energy?”)

Have they become aware of the unifying role of energy? At the end of the year, a third of students acknowledge the unifying role of energy in some respect, namely the fact it enables to describe (but not predict) phenomena in every branches of physics. However none points out the fact energy allows to conceive the links between the branches of physics. This suggests the necessity to have an explicit discussion on this epistemological point, in the line of many authors in the “nature of science” literature (e.g., Khishfe & Abd-El-Khalik, 2002). The energy ID map may be useful for such a discussion. Do they master the conservation principle? We presented a skate-situation and students had to say if the mechanical energy is conserved and if the conservation principle is valid. They had to argue for their answers. 55% answer that mechanical energy is not conserved. 24% support that the principle is valid but only 5% justify it correctly. We explain this low result as resulting from confusion between energy and mechanical energy conservation, and by the fact that essential aspects of the situation are ignored or not mastered: what is the system under study, what does dissipation of energy really mean. This shows that teaching should help students to clearly identify and discuss these aspects. One can notice also that many students do not recognize the epistemological status of a “principle”, so that the violation of the conservation principle is not a problem for them. Again this is an epistemological point deserving to be discussed explicitly in the classroom. Do they master the description in terms of energy transformations? Two different situations were presented to the students (see figure 4) and they had to describe them in terms of energy.

www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au www.luminaire.fr

Figure 4. Two situations to be described in terms of energy.

To assess students’ descriptions, we used a rating scale: level 1 (“very poor and confused”) corresponds to the case where neither of the two situations is described in terms of energy and/or no form of energy is correctly identified; level 5 (“very rich and clear”) corresponds to the case where the chains of energy transformations are described correctly in the two situations (or the chain of energy transformations is described correctly in the first situation and the forms and modes of transfer are correctly identified in the second situation). We observe (see figure 5) that some students improve their description and are able to use the notion of energy transformation correctly. But for a half of them, this remains very difficult. The last line of the table in figure 5 shows that Page | 186 students have difficulty to switch from a causal description to an energy description; for instance, a student answers that “the energy of the Earth is attracting the apple”. Energy and force are still confused. The distinction between both quantities was discussed in the frame of the historical approach, but this was not sufficient.

Level of the At the beginning At the end descriptions provided of the year of the year by students 1 32% 6% (very poor and confused) 2 60% 44% 3 8% 29% 4 0% 14 5 0% 7% (very rich and clear) causal description 55% 13%

Figure 5. Students’ descriptions in terms of energy.

Conclusion

This study shows that history of science and epistemology can help us to clarify the meaning of the concept of energy and its role in physics, and can be used to build potentially fruitful teaching strategies for this fundamental concept. The students assessed in the frame of our study do not reach a deep understanding of energy. From that, however, we cannot conclude that the specific teaching strategy we developed is inefficient, even if it can certainly be enhanced. Indeed, the aims of this strategy were not all endorsed by the teachers, and they did not implement the whole strategy. Our aim is now to take into account the outcomes of the first implementation so as to enhance the teaching strategy and to implement it again during the next year.

References Bächtold, M. & Guedj, M. (2012). Towards a new strategy for teaching energy based on the history and philosophy of the concept of energy. In O. Bruneau et al. (eds.), Innovative methods for science education: history of science, ICT and inquiry based science teaching (pp. 225-238). Berlin: Frank & Timme GmbH. Bächtold, M. & Guedj, M. (2014). Teaching energy informed by the history and epistemology of the concept with implications for teacher education. In M. Matthews (ed.), International handbook of research in history, philosophy and science teaching (p. 211-243). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Bächtold, M. & Munier, V. (2014). Enseigner le concept d’énergie en physique et éduquer à l’énergie : rupture ou continuité. Actes des « Huitièmes journées scientifiques de l’ARDIST », Skholê, 18(1), 2014, pp. 21-29. Bächtold, M., Munier, V., Guedj, M., Lerouge, A., & Ranquet, A. (2014). Quelle progression dans l’enseignement de l’énergie de l’école au lycée ? Une analyse des programmes et des manuels. RDST, 10, 63-91. Colonnese, D., Heron, P., Michelini, M., Santi, L. & Stefanel, A. (2012). A vertical pathway for teaching and learning the concept of energy. Review of Science, Mathematics and ICT Education, 6(1), 21-50. Doménech, J.-L., Gil-Pérez, D., Gras-Marti, A., Guisasola, J., Martínez-Torregrosa, J., Salinas, J., Trumper, R., Valdés, P. & Vilches, A. (2007). Teaching of energy issues: a debate proposal for a global reorientation. Science & Education, 16, 43–64 Duit, R. (1981). Understanding energy as a conserved quantity. European Journal of Science Education, 3(3), 291-301. Duit, R. (2014). Teaching and learning the physics energy concept. In R. Chen, A. Eisenkraft, D. Fortus, J. Krajcik, J. Nordine & A. Scheff (eds.), Teaching and learning of energy in K-12 education (pp. 67-85). Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer. Eisenkraft, A., Nordine, J., Chen, R., Fortus, D., Krajcik, J., Neumann, K. & Scheff, A. (2014). Introduction: why focus on energy instruction? In R. Chen, A. Eisenkraft, D. Fortus, J. Krajcik, J. Nordine & A. Scheff (eds.), Teaching and learning of energy in K-12 education (pp. 1-11). Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer.

Elkana, Y. (1974). The discovery of the conservation of energy. London: Hutchinson Educational LTD. Harman, P. (1982). Energy, force and matter: the conceptual development of nineteenth-century physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Heimann, P. (1973). Conversion of forces and the conservation of energy. Centaurus, 18, 147-161. Khishfe, R. & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2002). Influence of explicit and reflective versus implicit inquiry-oriented instruction on sixth graders’ views of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(7), 551-578. Page | 187 Kuhn, T. (1959). Energy conservation as an example of simultaneous discovery. In M. Clagett (ed.), Critical Problems in the History of Science (pp. 321-56). Madison (Wis.): The University of Wisconsin Press. Lacy, S., Tobin, R.G., Wiser, M. & Crissman, S. (2014). Looking through the energy lens: a proposed teaching progression for energy in grades 3-5. In R. Chen, A. Eisenkraft, D. Fortus, J. Krajcik, J. Nordine & A. Scheff (eds.), Teaching and learning of energy in K-12 education (pp. 241-265). Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer. Lee H.-S. & Liu O. (2010). Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: the knowledge integration perspective. Science Education, 94(4), 665-688. Lijnse, P. (1990). Energy between the life-world of pupils and the world of physics. Science Education, 74(5), 571-583. Lindsay, R. B. (1975). Energy: historical development of the concept. Stroudsburg (Pennsyl.): Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross. McIldowie, E. (2004). A trial of two energies. Physics Education, 39(2), 212-214. MEN (Ministère de l’Education nationale, France) (2010). Programme d’enseignement spécifique de physique-chimie en classe de première de la série scientifique. Bulletin Officiel de l’Education Nationale, spécial n°4 des 9 et 30 septembre 2010. Millar, D. (2005). Teaching about energy. Department of Educational Studies: research paper 2005/11. National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Neumann K., Viering T., Boone W. & Fischer H. (2013). Towards a learning progression of energy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 50(2), 162-188. Nordine J, Krajcik J. & Fortus D. (2011). Transforming energy instruction in middle school to support intergrated understanding and future learning. Science Education, 95(4), 670-699. Papadouris, N. & Constantinou, C. (2015). Investigating middle school students’ ability to develop energy as a framework for analysing simple physical phenomena. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, doi: 10.1002/tea.21248 (article first published online). Sexl, R. (1981). Some observations concerning the teaching of the energy concept. European Journal of Science Education, 3(3), 285-289. Smith, C. (2003). Force, energy, and thermodynamics. In M. J. Nye (ed.), The Cambridge history of science: the modern physical and mathematical sciences (pp. 289-310). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Solomon, J. (1983). Learning about energy: how pupils think in two domains. European Journal of Science Education, 5, 49- 59. Solomon, J. (1985). Teaching the conservation of energy. Physics Education, 20, 165-170. Trumper, R. (1990). Being constructive: an alternative approach to the teaching of the energy concept, part one. International Journal of Science Education, 12(4), 343-354. Trumper, R. (1991). Being constructive: an alternative approach to the teaching of the energy concept, part two. International Journal of Science Education, 13(1), 1-10. Trumper, R. (1993). Children’s energy concepts: a cross-age study. International Journal of Science Education, 15, 139-148. Warren, J. (1982). The nature of energy. European Journal of Science Education, 4(3), 295-297. Warren, J. (1991). The teaching of energy. Physics Education, 26(1), 8-9. Watts, D. (1983). Some alternative views of energy. Physics Education, 18, 213-217.

Affiliation and address information Manuel Bächtold, Valérie Munier, Muriel Guedj, Alain Lerouge & André Ranquet LIRDEF University of Montpellier & UPVM Montpellier France e-mail: [email protected]

Enquiring the Higgs Mechanism: A Path for Teachers

Sara Barbieri, Marco Giliberti University of Milan, Department of Physics, Italy

Abstract Page | 188 In the last three years, after the discovery at CERN of the Higgs boson in 2012, the request for a comprehensible high school path on the Higgs mechanism has been growing and growing among teachers and students. In fact, many web sites with simple approaches can be found on this item, but most of them are only popular description with very poor physical content, while some others are too technical to be relevant at secondary school level. From a didactical point of view, the Brout-Englert-Higgs (BEH) mechanism, that is the Standard-Model way of giving a mass to the theoretically massless W± and Z0, can be considered a conceptual knot that puts together most of the fundamental ideas and concepts of classical and modern physics. Among them: mass, energy, symmetries and interactions. For this purpose a deep didactical reconstruction is fundamental. Since this path about the BEH mechanism is addressed to teachers for inspiring their work, it does not make use of too difficult mathematical tools, so that it can be really implemented in classroom with students. Our starting point consists of some considerations on the Heisenberg uncertainty relations, the range of interactions, and the masses of the exchanged bosons that “mediate” the interaction. Then, some interesting experiments on superconductivity that can be addressed to secondary school teachers (and students), and that can be investigated within a guided IBSE (Inquiry Based Science Education) methodology, are presented and discussed. In this context, a particular emphasis is given to the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect (that is the expulsion of the magnetic field from the bulk of a superconductor), for its strong analogy with the BEH mechanism. Moreover, some interesting experiments on eddy currents provide a didactical tool towards the way by which additional “fictitious mass” can be given to an object by “hidden” interactions. In the end, putting together all the previously written considerations, the development of the basic ideas of the Higgs mechanism are developed.

Keywords Higgs boson, superconductivity, secondary school education, IBSE.

Introduction

With the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 at CERN, the interest around this topic is continuously increasing among teachers and students. The interest on the Higgs boson creates a great opportunity for teaching. In fact, the Brout-Englert-Higgs (BEH) mechanism can be seen as the last observed step of the unifying process of interpretation of the physical world that started with Galileo Galilei and that, among the others, has been developed by Newton, Maxwell and Einstein. The BEH mechanism allows the unification of the weak and electromagnetic interactions that, in the Standard Model, appear to be two aspects of just one fundamental interaction: the electroweak one. Being unified into one theoretical scheme, the two previous interactions are, in a sense, described by very similar mathematical structures and, as a consequence, they both should be mediated by massless vector bosons, like the photon. Therefore, the problem arises of how can the weak interaction have such short a range, as the one observed of about 10-3fm and nonetheless be mediated by massless bosons. The BEH mechanism resolves this problem; in fact it is a way of giving to the weak vector boson mediators W± and Z0 the required “effective” mass of about 80-90 GeV and, thus, allowing the Glashow, Weinberg Salam electroweak theory to be consistent. The BEH mechanism has at its roots two fundamental ideas [Aitchinson et al 2000, Perkins 2000, Higgs 1964, Englert et al 1964]: the first one is the spontaneous symmetry breaking, while the second relies on a strong analogy with the explanation of the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect, namely the expulsion of the magnetic field from the bulk of a superconductor. Since the level of the physical concepts involved is very high for secondary school students, in order to develop a meaningful and appropriate school path on this topic, the need of a deep educational reconstruction of the contents clearly appears. Moreover, since it seems quite difficult to face this topic only as the last part of the last year programme, it will be necessary a restructuration that may involve many aspects of the entire secondary school curriculum. The problem could appear too challenging because it requires a great amount of time and a great effort for teachers. However, on the other hand, it offers the opportunity of a new way of looking at fundamental and traditional physical concepts, in a way that could be really fruitful to construct a scenario in which the main stream of physical efforts, that is a unified vision of the world, emerges gradually and convincingly. Concepts as

mass, frames of reference, energy, symmetry and interactions can be presented under a new light, by looking at them from the point of view, and with the typical way of reasoning, of a “modern” physical perspective. For brevity reasons, in the following we concentrate only on presenting a meaningful high school path about basic ideas of the BEH mechanism that gives an effective, different from zero mass to the vector bosons of the weak interactions.

Page | 189 Fundamental steps for the introduction of the BEH mechanism

Relying on some results that we have obtained in our long lasting research work on quantum physics education and on a previous PhD work on superconductivity [Barbieri et al 2013, Barbieri 2014], we highlight here some of the fundamental steps that, according to our secondary school approach, are needed for the introduction of the BEH mechanism. According to those steps, we will then present, in a little more detail, a path consisting of two main activities that will be described from a didactical point of view.

To intuitively understand the importance of the Higgs mechanism, we need to introduce two ideas that are at the basis of the problem we are dealing with: first, the idea of interaction (and of the concept of exchange particles); second, the relation between the mass of the exchange particle and the range of the interaction of which it is the mediator. We start having in mind two prerequisites:  The existence of quanta associated to a field, and the idea of interaction.  The Heisenberg relations.

Interactions and mediators of an interaction In physics we always suppose that interactions are local. The field concept has been created just for this purpose

already in classical physics. This means that two objects A and B cannot directly interact if the position xA of

the object A is different from the position xB of the object B (otherwise the interactions would not be local). To avoid action at a distance, to describe the forces between interacting objects (for instance two electric charges placed at a certain distance between each other), the concept of force field is introduced, so that a body primarily interacts with the field, whose dynamics mediates the interaction with the other object. In the context we are dealing with, a quantum field interacts with a particle only by means of quanta, called mediators of the field. Therefore, the interaction of a force field with a particle is described by an exchange of momentum (and/or of charge, spin, energy and so on) between its mediator and the particle considered. If the mediator of a field is able to interact with a certain particle, we say that the field is coupled to the (field of the) particle. In the following we report two examples of these kind of couplings, to give a picture of what we are saying. Atom decay A* → A + ,

where A* is the atom in one of its excited states, A is its fundamental state, and  is a photon, the mediator of the electromagnetic field. We can say that the excited atom is coupled with the electromagnetic field. During the interaction a photon is created together with a new state of the atom. Neutron decay - n → p + W  e +  e ,

where n is a neutron (that, in analogy with the previous case, could be thought as a proton in a sort of excited

state), p is a proton, e is an electron and  e is the electron antineutrino. Just as the coupling of an excited atom with the electromagnetic field generates a photon that was not previously inside the atom, in this case the coupling of a neutron with a “weak field” generates a W- boson that decays in an electron and an antineutrino). Actually, this second case is a little bit more complicated (but even more similar to the atom photon emission which is, more precisely, due to the coupling of an electron, in an excited state of the atom, to the electromagnetic field). In fact, in the modern description, the neutron has an internal structure in terms of quarks (udd) and it is just one of its “down” quark that is coupled with the weak field and that, in the transition to an “up” quark emits the boson W-.

The problem of the mass of the mediators of the weak interaction The two interactions reported in the previous examples are indeed part of a unique fundamental interaction, called electroweak interaction. The unification of these two interactions is suggested by the fact that they are

very similar to each other, both from a theoretical and an experimental point of view. But what distinguishes very sharply these two interactions is the fact that while the electromagnetic interaction is long range, the weak interaction has a very short range one (10-18 – 10-16 m). Now the range of an interaction is tightly connected with the mass of its exchange particles. We can have an intuitive idea of this fact using the Heisenberg relations, as follows. Let m be the mass of the exchange particle; we can suppose that it is created from vacuum fluctuations for a time Page | 190 interval Δt, provided that DE  Dt   and DE  E  mc2 . This means that Dt   mc2 , therefore the range of the interaction, that is the largest distance the mediator can travel, is about r  c Dt   mc . From an experimental range of 10-3 fm it follows that the bosons W± and Z0 should have a mass as large as 80-90 GeV! This is a problem for what concerns the Standard Model of the fundamental interactions, because, as already said, for symmetry reasons that cannot be discussed in this paper, the mediators of the weak interaction should, theoretically, have a mass equal to zero. In the Sixties, physicists were therefore struggling with this problem. The solution was suggested by the theory of superconductivity, formulated in 1957 by Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer. In fact, although being a long- range field in vacuum, the magnetic field has a very short penetration depth in a superconductor. It is as if, in a superconductor, the photon had an effective non-zero mass. This gave the idea for the BEH mechanism. Let us see how with some more details.

Two activities to investigate the BEH mechanism

Two complete IBSE cycles are at the core of our educational path. The first one gives a way to familiarize with the idea that the mass of a body can, in due conditions, be different from the expected one, for instance the one measured by a balance. The second cycle is a bridge from the Meissner effect to the BEH mechanism.

Activity 1: Electromagnetic induction and the effective mass This first activity can be performed by enquiry, and in particular following the teaching suggestions of the European project TEMI (Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated) [TEMI] [Barbieri et al., 2015]. For what concerns us here, teaching the TEMI way means above all, to follow the 5E’s learning cycle [Bybee, 2006] (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate) starting from a mystery proposed in the first phase (Engage). The mystery presented is the following: Two equal carts of equal mass move on the same track when pulled by a wire attached to the same weight. The accelerations of the two carts are completely different. Why? If the weight is the same, it implies that the forces exerted upon the carts are equal in the two cases, let us call them F both, in case 1 and 2. Figure 1 shows the relative position of the two carts after few seconds, supposing that they started their motion from rest and from the same point of the track.

1 F

2 F

Figure 1. Sketch of two identical carts, with the same mass, started from the same point and pulled by the same force F: after few seconds, the two carts have different positions.

Actually, the two carts have been previously prepared by the teacher in two different ways: cart1 has a strong magnet placed at its bottom, while cart2 has the same magnet, but placed on its top so that, while cart1 is moving along the aluminium track, significant eddy currents damp its motion; on the contrary, using cart2, currents cannot even be noticed, for the greater distance of the magnet from the track. Students investigate the phenomenon using the 5E’s learning cycle. During the Explore phase, Students can acquire data by means of commercial didactic motion sensors. If the pulling weight is suitably chosen (taking into account the intensity of the interaction between the carts and the eddy currents, and the length of the track), the cart will have a uniformly accelerated motion, at least with good approximation. In Figures 2 and 3, two graphs obtained in our lab are shown. The first one shows a fit of the position versus time, while the second shows the velocity versus time when in presence of eddy currents: both of them are typical graphs of a uniformly accelerated motion. Graphs of this kind are obtained both, for cart1 and

cart2: the only difference between them is the value of the acceleration, that in the case of cart1 is lower than that of cart2.

position (m) (s)

Page | 191

Automatic fit for x=Ax2+Bx+C

A=0.5841±0.0013 m/s2

time (s)

Figure 2. Parabolic data fit of the position of the cart as a funcion of time that shows that the acceleration is, to a good extent, constant. The measured acceleration is a=1.168±0.003 m/s2.

velocity (m/s) (s)

The standard deviation on position is σ=0.0019 m

Figure 3. Linear fit of the velocity of the cart as a function of time: the velocity increases uniformly, proving that the motion has a constant acceleration.

During the Explain phase students have to understand what is going on. Particular attention should be given by the teacher in relating the difference in the two accelerations to the difference of the two measured inertial masses of the two carts, as it is obtained from the Newton’s second law: m = F/a. The discussion with students depends on when this activity is proposed: in particular, whether it is proposed before or after the study of electromagnetic induction. In this second case, students will discover that the cause of the different accelerations of the two carts is the presence of eddy currents in the aluminium track that interact with the magnet placed at the bottom of cart1. In any case, the principal goal of the proposed activity is that students become aware of the fact that, in certain cases, an object can acquire mass through the interaction with a field and that, therefore, the effective measured mass may be different from the “true” mass of the object. Neglecting the coupling with the eddy currents leads to a measurement of the cart mass that is biased by our ignorance, and that is greater than the one we would assign if aware of this coupling. However, great attention must be paid to the fact that for this “inducing mass effect” to be possible, the ignored interaction must be of a very special kind. In fact, we may assign a grater effective mass to the cart of our example only if its motion, when it is acted upon by a known constant force, is uniformly accelerated and, if its acceleration is proportional to the applied force. Those circumstances in our case do hold (even if only in a small interval of intensity of the applied forces), but in general do not, as for instance in the case of a body sliding over a plane with static friction. The BEH mechanism is precisely a mechanism of that special kind: it is the coupling of the Higgs field with the “in reality” massless weak vector bosons that gives them their measured mass.

Activity 2: The Meissner effect in superconductivity Also this second activity can be performed following the TEMI way of teaching. The first Engage phase can be done by a very suggestive experiment that always fascinate students: the levitation of a magnet placed upon a

superconductor, that is then cooled below its critical temperature (Meissner effect). Figure 4 shows the experiment. During the next Explore phase, students have, generally, a lot of fun with superconductivity and with the many different experiments they can perform using their fantasy. This exploration can be thought as an almost free activity, at the end of which students should realize what is the condition that makes the magnet levitate (at least for type 1 superconductors): the complete expulsion of the magnetic field from the bulk of the superconductor Page | 192 (there are many commercial kits with YBCO superconducting sample, very useful for this goal).

Figure 4. Picture of a magnet that is levitating over an YBCO superconductor cooled, with liquid nitrogen, below its critical temperature.

The Explain phase has to be guided by the teacher, at least in its mathematical exposition. Intuitively, students can get the solution of the mysterious levitation, hypothesizing the creation of an opposite magnetic field inside the bulk that, added to the applied one, generated by the magnet, gives a total null field inside the bulk. To create a magnetic field there must be an electrical current inside the superconductor. Students by themselves can realize where the current will be present: since the field must be zero inside the bulk, according to the Maxwell’s equations the current has to flow in a very narrow region just at the surface of the sample. Figure 5 illustrates the magnetic field B in a superconductor in which the Meissner effect is occurring.

Figure 5. Magnitude of the magnetic field B vs distance from the surface x inside a superconductor where the Meissner effect is occurring: the applied magnetic field is B0, while B is the field inside the bulk, in the approximation of a superconductor that extends indefinitely in the x-axis direction for x>0.

At this point, with the help of the teacher, students can go on with their explanation of the phenomenon. Depending on the level of their preparation, they can derive the mathematical expression of the decreasing curve of Figure 5, or derive only its qualitative behaviour. In any case, they will encounter the notion of the penetration

length L of the magnetic field (see Figure 5). This is a crucial notion because we can interpret L as the range r of the interaction of the (electro)magnetic field inside the superconductor. In fact, since inside a superconductor the electromagnetic field is shielded by superconductive currents, it appears as if it had a very short, instead of an infinite, range. Once we have understood this new characteristic of the electromagnetic interaction in a superconductor, that is its short range-ness, in the Extend phase we can use the Heisenberg relations to estimate the mass of the mediator of the electromagnetic interaction right inside the superconductor. For this purpose, we can follow the previously mentioned, and very intuitive, way of reasoning, that is also suited for secondary school students and that starts

from Heisenberg relations. In fact, once the range L is given, from the relation r   mc we obtain the

“effective mass” of the photon in a superconductor as: m   Lc .

The consequence of such a way of reasoning is really surprising: we find a photon mass that is different from zero! In other words, we can describe the Meissner effect in two different ways: in the first, we can imagine screening currents that prevents the electromagnetic field to be present inside the bulk of the superconductor,

while in the second, we can imagine that the interaction between the superconductor and the electromagnetic

field is a short range interaction (with range equal to L) whose mediators, the photons, are massive. We can say that if we lived inside a superconductor, but had no evidence of the superconducting screening currents, we would be probably tempted to construct a theory of electromagnetism that on the one hand would obey the Maxwell equations, but on the other should provide a short range interaction. Two things that, at a first glance, seem to contradict each other. Page | 193 For what concerns weak interactions, we are in a similar situation. And just this is the idea at the core of the BEH mechanism in the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam theory of the weak interactions: our universe is a sort of a special superconductor, whose vacuum is filled with a non-zero Higgs field that interacts with the weak interactions fields and make them short range; that’s why the W± and Z0 appear massive. The analogy between the BEH mechanism and superconductivity is even stronger. In fact, just as superconductivity arises below a critical temperature, the appearance of a non-zero expectation value of the Higgs field arises only when the temperature of our universe goes below a certain temperature after the Big Bang. This can be described as a phase transition that naturally hides a symmetry of the system (a well-known fact in thermodynamics) such as, for example, the ferromagnetic transition below the Curie temperature that hides the original rotational symmetry of the sample.

Conclusions

When a teacher decides to face the BEH mechanism, she/he will encounter a huge enthusiasm of her/his students, just for the simple fact of studying a peak subject in physics. However, she/he has to put great attention not to trivialize the teaching. Rather than a popular discussion about the BEH mechanism, we prefer to propose an educational reconstruction of the subject. This involves a big deployment of energy, together with a revision of the way in which the usual topics of the curriculum are treated: mass, fictitious forces, symmetry, interactions and energy can be taught in a more useful way, if the teacher has in her/his mind to face the BEH mechanism in the last year of study. Moreover, in order to develop the educational reconstruction needed to face the BEH mechanism, a teacher should become familiar with the topics that have to be reconstructed from an educational point of view and that are strongly related to the mechanism. In our opinion, the principal ones are:  The link between symmetries and conserved quantities, as the Noether theorem states, that for students can be simply exemplified in many ambits of the physics that they already have studied (energy conservation, momentum conservation, conservation of the electric charge, and so on);  The link between hidden symmetries and state transitions, in particular ferromagnetism and superconductivity;  Some key concept of a simple semi-classical quantum field theory (essentially the Yukawa potential and its connection with the force field mediator masses). Activity 1 of the path briefly discussed here is an extension of a work (named “The invisible brake”) on eddy currents already proposed 4 times, at the time of writing, within the TEMI project to about 80 teachers in training. The activity 2, has already been widely proposed to secondary school students both, in their curricular activities with some classes of a scientific High School [Barbieri 2014] and in the extra-school lab work of the PLS (Scientific Degree Plan of the Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research) with more than 1000 students and an increasing number of requests. It is therefore a well establish activity we can trust on. The whole path for teachers has been experimented twice: the first time, in the framework of the TEMI project, in a 13 hours training course of the 2015 ITP (Italian Teachers Programme) at CERN; the second time, for the PLS and TEMI activities of the Physics Department of the University of Milan, with about 60 teachers in a 20 hours training course, that followed a previously held 18 hours training course on quantum physics, and that has taken into account strengths and weaknesses highlighted at the ITP programme. The schools relapse of these last training courses is still unknown to the authors, but the enthusiasm shown by the teachers and their request of more similar courses is encouraging. We are, therefore, planning a pilot study of the efficacy of this kind of intervention in the 2016-2017 activities of the PLS plan in physics at Milan University. Although the list of the topics might appear quite long, we would like to encourage teachers by saying that, in our experience, even with just a coarse knowledge of some of them, they will be able to develop a first

educational reconstruction of the usual contents all the same. And this will surely make their teaching more alive and engaging for students.

References Aitchinson A. and Hey I. (1989), “Gauge Theories in Particle Physics,” IOP Publishing Ltd (Bristol). Barbieri S., Cavinato M., and Giliberti M. (2013), “An educational path for the magnetic vector potential and its physical implications,” European Journal of Physics, vol. 34, no. 5, p. 1209, 2013. Page | 194 Barbieri S. (2014), “Superconductivity explained with the tools of the classical electromagnetism”; PhD Thesis, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Corso di dottorato in “Storia e Didattica delleMatematiche della Fisica e della Chimica” XXIV ciclo. Barbieri S., Carpineti M, and Giliberti M. (2015), “Teachers participant to the European Project TEMI practice the enquiry methodology in their classroom”, Proceedings of the GIREP EPEC International congress 2015 WROCŁAW July 6 – 10. Bybee, R., Taylor, J. A., Gardner, A., Van Scotter, P., Carlson, J., Westbrook, A., Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins and Effectiveness. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS. Englert F., Brout R. (1964). "Broken Symmetry and the Mass of Gauge Vector Mesons". Physical Review Letters 13 (9): 321–23. Higgs P. W. (1964), "Broken Symmetries and the Masses of Gauge Bosons". Physical Review Letters 13 (16): 508–509. Perkins D. H. (2000), “Introduction to High Energy Physics,” Cambridge University Press, 4th Edition (Cambridge). TEMI. European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 321403 – 2012- 1. http://teachingmysteries.eu

Affiliation and address information Sara Barbieri Department of Physics University of Milan Via Celoria, 16 20133 Milano Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Marco Giliberti Department of Physics University of Milan Via Celoria, 16 20133 Milano Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Helping Students Explore Concepts Relating to the Electric Field at Upper Level Secondary Science Education

Richard Moynihan1,2, Paul van Kampen1, Odilla Finlayson3, Eilish McLoughlin1 1Centre for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning & School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Page | 195 2O’Carolan College, Nobber, Meath, Republic of Ireland 3Centre for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning & School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Abstract Static electricity in upper level secondary science education involves student use of abstract reasoning to build an accurate model of the interactions involved in Coulomb’s law and the electric field. There are many tools available to help students increase their ability to explore these topics, such as algebraic reasoning, proportional reasoning and vector summation. While no one tool gives students a full understanding, the use of all three can help students develop an accurate understanding of the topics. In this paper, we present a body of research taken with a small sample of students, consisting of two upper level physics groups of students (N = 28). The background of the research is discussed and the methodology of the research undertaken is highlighted. Progress in student understanding and examples of the difficulties they encountered are illustrated at various points across the timeframe of the research. Our discussions and conclusions detail that using guided tutorials can promote progress in student understanding of the inverse square law and vector addition, but that many prominent difficulties still remain in some student models post- instruction.

Keywords Static, electricity, field, pre-test, post-test, inquiry, education, research, assessment.

Introduction

Inquiry based science education (IBSE) was highlighted as a teaching methodology of best practice in the education of secondary level education (Rocard et al, 2007) due to the opportunities for encouraging student interest in science. As a method of facilitating student education, IBSE gives an opportunity for students to develop scientifically accurate models, and present opportunities for students to address common misconceptions. IBSE has been shown to be effective at addressing such misconceptions (Dykstra et al, 1992). One aspect of our research focuses on the development of classroom activities and exercises using guided IBSE materials to help students develop an understanding of the concepts behind the electric field, and highlight the linkages between it and other concepts such as Coulomb’s law and potential difference. We have assessed student understanding primarily using a pre-test/post-test model, and analysis of student tutorials. This assessment model allows us to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the accuracy of student models and measure the extent to which conceptual change occurred. The results of these tests can then be used to inform us which sections of the materials require adaptation to promote greater conceptual gains for future students. We discuss student results and development of their understanding during the tutorials, highlighting both gains and limitations of their understanding as they progressed from a qualitative to a quantitative understanding of the inverse square law, and the development of their conceptual understanding of comparing and contrasting scalar and vector addition.

Students difficulties with concepts related to the electric field

Coulomb’s law is considered the fundamental law of electrostatics. In some cases, it is the first mathematical expression used in electrostatics for upper secondary school students. Traditionally, students are introduced to the definition and formula and practice algorithmic mathematical problems. Coulomb’s law is presented as an example of an inverse square law, but students have difficulties grasping the concept unless exposed to it multiple times (Arons, 1997; Marzec, 2012). Maloney, O'Kuma, Hieggelke, Van Heuvelen (2000) showed students have difficulty understanding the mathematics of Coulomb’s law pre-instruction. Post-instruction, gains were not as one would expect having completed exercises on Coulomb’s law in an introductory course. Some activities have been developed over the years to allow students to explore the relationship by experimentation or classroom activities (Wiley & Stutzman, 1978; Cortel, 1999; Šabatka & Dvořák, 2009).

Additionally, difficulties can also be seen in students’ understanding of vector concepts. Nguyen and Meltzer (2003) showed students in an algebra based course have difficulties with vector addition in cases of collinear vectors and vectors in two dimensions. Flores et al (2004) showed that highlighting the vector nature of forces can increase student ability to use vectors to solve various problems that would otherwise prove difficult, but that overall improvement of understanding vectors is quite a challenge.

Page | 196 Using tutorial style classes to promote student understanding

Two groups of 14 students in the 16-17 years old age range who were mixed gender and mixed ability, took part in this study in two successive years. They took part in a tutorial style class that lasted 80 minutes. The students completed all tutorials on vector concepts and static electricity over the course of four weeks, completing one tutorial a week for three weeks and two tutorials during the final week. A set of homework questions was given at the end of each tutorial. These were written in the same style as the tutorial worksheets. At the start of each tutorial, the students were given an introductory lecture style presentation in which they are introduced to a topic in static electricity and related concepts. The students then completed a small pre-test, which assessed their understanding of a number of key concepts related to the static electricity topic they were studying. The students were then divided into groups of three/four, assigned by the teacher, to complete the worksheets. These worksheets were designed to facilitate a guided inquiry approach, in which they promote student learning through peer discussion and the students progress through the materials using their scientific reasoning and process skills. Each concept is presented in a unique context and is broken down into a series of lower and higher order questions that the students can work through in groups. This design was used to set the materials at a level the students can cognitively engage with (Hmelo-Silver, Duncan & Clarke A Chinn, 2006). The first group’s worksheet materials involved the use of algebra, diagrams and words to complete the questions, while the second group also answered questions based on the their interpretation of tables and graphs to explore concepts in static electricity.

Research methodology

The guided inquiry tutorial worksheets were developed as part of an action research project to enhance student understanding in static electricity concepts. There are many definitions for action research, such as “improve practice rather than to produce knowledge. The production and utilisation of knowledge is subordinate to, and conditioned by, this fundamental aim.” (Elliot 1991, p40). Hopkins (1985) proposed that using a combination of both action in practice and research, the action is rendered into a form of disciplined inquiry, where the researcher informs and improves their practice. Action research is an ongoing process in which the development of the research can open up new avenues to explore.

Figure 1. Action research moving forward. (Coats, 2005).

Pre-test / Post-test Primary Evidence. Worksheet Analysis.

Student Reflection.

Secondary Backpocket Question Evidence. Teacher Observations.

Figure 2. Modes of evidence collection in this study.

The research thus far has been carried out over the course of two years with two groups of 14 students, who were mixed gender and mixed ability, in the 16-17 years old age range. In order to observe classes and reflect upon these observations, the five types of evidence were taken. The primary evidence is the main source of insight into student understanding of the concepts covered, while the secondary evidence was used to compliment the interpretations made from analysing the primary evidence.

Page | 197 Student performance using guided inquiry tutorials

The invers square law Both groups of students completed a pre-test, a tutorial, a homework and a post-test looking at Coulomb’s law and the electric field. In both cases, they came across opportunities to apply the inverse square law. As can be seen in the pre-test results, presented in table 1, the majority of the students in both groups were aware that increasing the distance between two charges would decrease the electrostatic force between them, but few attempted to quantify this reduction, let alone recognise the inverse square relationship. In the post-test, students in both groups were seen to attempt a calculation. Students the first group acknowledged the inverse relationship qualitatively but ignored the index operation that is applied to the distance variable in the quantitative question. In the second group, all students but one attempted a calculation, in which they all acknowledged the inverse relationship in their qualitative responses and approximately half of them applied the inverse square relationship in their quantitative answer.

Table 1. Student pre-test and post-test results for inverse square law questions. Bold numbers denotes correct responses.

Force and Distance Grp I Pre. Grp I Post. Grp II Pre. Grp II Post.

Inverse Square 3 0 0 6 Relationship

Inverse 1 13 3 7 Relationship

Force Decreases 12 10 13 14

Force Increases 0 3 0 0

Force is unaffected 0 0 0 0

No Submission 2 1 1 1

In the tutorial, students were asked to show, using a calculation, how the force would be affected by moving the charges to a distance of “3r” instead of “r”. By using numerical values and a calculator, some of the students were able to show that it would be one-ninth of the force, but didn’t comment on this. Other students dropped the square function in the equation and stated that the force would be one-third of the original force. In the second group, students typically didn’t use the square operation on the distance and submitted that the force would be reduced to 1/3rd of its original value. Other students submitted that the force would be 1/9th of its original value, and verbally explained it correctly highlighting the inverse square relationship, but they did not write their reasoning down on their worksheets.

Student B: 1/9 (Verbal reasoning: cause if you triple it, the force reduces by 1/9th, cause 32 is 9 and you get the inverse to work out the reduction). Student F: = . ()

The second group of students completed other exercises using a multi-representational approach to understand the relationships in Coloumb’s law. These students were presented with a table showing the variation of the force between two charges, as the distance between them is varied. The students were asked to describe the pattern shown in the table,, to graph the data, and comment on the shape of the graph. They were specifically asked to compare their graph to that of a directly proportional relationship.. The students’ answers typically revolved around the pattern produced a curve instead of a straight line, and that the y-values decreased instead of

increased. No student explicitly mentioned that the curved graph does not pass through the origin. Some students in the group determined that the graph showed an inverse square relationship, but didn’t give reasoning from the table that explicitly showed this.

Student B: No, as the graph is curved, you can see that it is not a proportional relationship. Student M: ∝ , as the distance goes up, the force goes down in a curve. Page | 198 These students were then asked to use the graph to form a ratio for reduction of force when the charges are moved from 1m to (i) 2 m (ii) 3 m and (iv) 4 m. They were then asked to use these ratios to show that Coulomb’s law was an example of an inverse square law. However, the students found the process difficult, struggling to see the connections between the numerical values, the pattern produced on their graphs and the inverse square law. 11/14 of the students explained that as the distance increased, the force decreased, without mentioning the ratios they worked out. 3/14 students acknowledged these ratios explicitly.

Student K: Inversely proportional means that as you increase one, you decrease the other. Student N: By you increase the distance by x, you decrease the force by .

Students understanding of vector addition in 2 dimensions Table 2 presents a summary of the pre-test and post-test results, from questions targeting student understanding of vectors in two dimensions. In the pre-test the students were presented with two force vectors acting on a body, with an angle of 45o between the vectors. In the post-test, a similar setup was presented with electrostatic forces acting on a charged body.

Table 2. Student pre-test and post-test results for vector addition questions. Bold numbers denotes correct responses. Grp I Grp II Grp I Pre- Grp II Pre- 2D Force Question Post- Post- test. test. test. test.

2 5 4 5 Vector Addition

12 9 10 8 Scalar Addition N/a 0 0 0 1

The first group of students were presented with the exercise shown in figure 3 to get them thinking about adding vectors in 2 dimensions. Students were asked to rank the net forces acting on the charges at the top, and invited to consider the horizontal components of these forces.

Figure 3. Vector worksheet exercise from first edition of worksheets.

All students correctly ranked the centre setup as having the most net force, but stated that the other two were equal. The students showed difficulties in applying Pythagoras’ theorem without intervention and prompting from the teacher. Student feedback on this activity suggested that the topic was too difficult to be looked at in

isolation. Only one group of three students explicitly highlighted that the centre setup would be stronger by explaining that there would be pushes to the left and to the right that would cancel out. As the first group of students had difficulties applying vector addition to the previous question, a new tutorial was developed for the second group of students who took part in the research in the following academic year. This tutorial focused on allowing the the students to build up an understanding of how two dimensional vector addition operates differently to scalar addition. The second group of students did not complete the exercise Page | 199 shown in Figure 3, and instead completed the exercise shown in Figure 4. Students were guided through the labelling and drawing of vectors using graphs and vector components. Students had to write out vectors from pictures in their components, and draw vectors on graphs from coordinates. They were then guided through the addition of vectors, using the head-to-tail method, using the vectors from Figure 4(i) and (ii).

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Figure 4. Vector addition diagrams from the vectors tutorial.

Students were then required to add vectors seen in Figure 4(iii) and (iv), both by using the head-to-tail method and by adding the horizontal and vertical coordinates. Upon completing this aspect of the exercise, students were asked to explain, in their own words, why the magnitudes in setup (iii) could be added directly and why they could not be added directly in (iv).

Student F: The x values cancel out so you can just add the y values. Student G: Because the 2 vectors are going in opposite directions, the horizontal vectors cancel out. Student H: The x values cancel themselves out.

We saw in the post-test that the second group of students who completed this worksheet scored favourably in the homework vectors question. Students were given a combination of two 3 N vectors adding at 0, 45° and 180° and asked to rank the net force. It was seen that 8/14 students correctly used vector addition to rank the forces, while another 3/14 attempted to use vector operations but made a calculation error to arrive at an incorrect ranking. Only 1 student used scalar addition post instruction. Both groups of students completed a post-test question, based on vector addition in the context of electrostatic attraction, as seen in figure 5. Students were asked to determine which negative charge had the highest net force acting on it, due to the presence and position of the positive charges.

Figure 5. Post-test question to elicit students’ application of vector concepts to electrostatic forces.

In the first group, five of the students correctly reasoned that horizontal components in setup (a) would cancel out, while in setup (b) there is only one vertical component. The remaining students added the forces as if they were scalars and stated that the forces were equal. In the second group, five students used vector addition to correctly rank the forces while eight students used scalar addition to make an incorrect ranking. Other reasoning given showed the facet of more charges leads to more force, in short, more is more, and some students referenced that the distance from the charges was different in both cases, even though the distance was shown to be the same in the picture. In summary, both groups scored identically on this question, regardless of the Page | 200 progress made by the second group in completing the vectors tutorial and the homework assignment.

Discussion

Arons (1997) stated that students have difficulty with the inverse square relationships. It was seen in our study, by comparing pre-test and post-test results, that very few of our students applied any mathematical reasoning to questions involving separation of charges. During the guided inquiry based tutorials, students completed various activities related to the inverse square law, using tabular, graphical and algebraic representations over the course of building up their understanding of Coulomb’s law and the electric force. In the post-test, it was seen that the majority of the students gave a mathematics-based answer when ranking electric forces at different points. If we consider the groups separately, approximately half of the students in the second group applied the inverse square law, while in the first group, the majority of the students did not recognise or use the inverse square law. We attribute the difference between the groups post-test answers the multi-representational approach taken in the second revision of the tutorials materials, completed by the second group of students, promoted the student’s recognition and ability to use the inverse square law. Nguyen & Meltzer (2003) discussed student errors in vector addition, such as students having difficulty adding vectors that are not collinear or perpendicular to each other. We saw this in the pre-test, in which 18% of our students, between both groups, were able to attempt to use vector addition for non-collinear vectors. The second group of students completed a worksheet and a homework sheet focusing on vector addition. One homework activity question showed eight of our students were correctly able to use vector addition concepts to rank the net force felt in various setups. However, in the post-test question, 33% of our students between both groups were able to apply the vector concepts to an electrostatic force question, 18% being from the first group who did not complete the vector tutorial and 15% from the second group, who did complete the tutorial. This suggests to us that students had difficulties transferring their understanding of vector concepts to the domain of electrostatics.

Conclusions

With our group of upper secondary level students, it was seen that difficulties in concepts related to the electric field were prevalent. The guided inquiry tutorial lessons were effective in helping a number of students develop a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the inverse square law. However, others still had difficulties applying it quantitatively to Coulomb’s law and the electric field. A multi-representational approach was used to try to help students understand the inverse square relationship, but applied in isolation between different exercises. Future tutorials can benefit from embedding multi-representational questions and linking different activities within the same concept, in order to allow students to develop a better understanding of the inverse square law. The difference in vector addition and scalar addition was also seen to show specific difficulties for our students. In the pre-test, it was seen that students used scalar addition in a two dimensional vector setup. One full class tutorial was given to the second group of students to discuss vector addition in collinear and non-collinear summations. Analysis of this worksheet showed that some students could adequately reason why horizontal vectors cancelled out in the questions that they covered, but did not commit this to their overall models of vectors, nor transfer this to electrostatic forces, as can be seen in the discussion of the post-test results.

References Arons, A. B. (1997). Teaching introductory physics. NY: Wiley. Coats, M. (2005). Action Research; a guide for Associate Lecturers. Centre for Outcomes-Based Education. Open University, Milton Keynes. Cortel. A., (1999) Demonstrations of Coulomb’s Law with an Electronic Balance, The Physics Teacher, (37) pg. 447-448 Dykstra, D. I., Boyle, C. F., & Monarch, I. A. (1992). Studying conceptual change in learning physics. Journal of Science Education (72), pg 615 - 652.

Elliot. J (1991) Action research for educational change. Published by Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham, MK18 1XW. Hopkins, D. (1985), A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research, Philadelphia: Open University Press. Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Duncan, R. G., and Clark A Chinn, C. A.(2006) Scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: A response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark. Educational Psychologist, 42(2):99–107, 2007. Maloney, D. P., O'Kuma, T. L., Hieggelke, C. J., & Van Heuvelen, A. (2001). Surveying students’ conceptual knowledge of Page | 201 electricity and magnetism. American Journal of Physics , Vol. 69 (No. 7), 12 - 23. Marzec, A. (2012) A Review of Activities for Teaching the Inverse Square Law, NYSED Regents Physics Classroom. Access online: 30th May, 2015. Nguyen, N. L., & Meltzer, D. E. (2003). Initial understanding of vector concepts among students in introductory physics courses. American journal of physics, 71(6), 630-638. Rocard, M., Csermely, P., Jorde, D., Lenzen, D., Walberg-Henriksson, H., & Hemmo, V. (2006). Rocard report: Science education now: a new pedagogy for the future of Europe. Tech. rep., European Commission. Šabatka, Z., & Dvořák, L. Two simple ways of verification of the 1/r2 dependence in Coulomb’s law at both high school and university level. Accessed online 19th May 2015. Wiley, P. H., & Stutzman, W. L. (1978). A simple experiment to demonstrate Coulomb’s law. American Journal of Physics, 46(11), 1131-1132

Affiliation and address information Richard Moynihan School of Physical Sciences Dublin City University Dublin 9 Ireland e-mail: [email protected]

Integration of some general topics into the introductory physics course for non- physicists – a good practice?

Tomaž Kranjc1 , Nada Razpet2 1 Faculty of Education, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 Page | 202 Faculty of Education, Koper, Slovenia

Abstract One of the basic problems in physics instruction is the lack of motivation: students do not find interesting most of the physics as taught in school, moreover, they have the feeling that the school acquired knowledge of physics is of little relevance in everyday life and will not be needed in real life. Some of the new methods in teaching/learning process try to introduce active teaching/learning (e.g. in the form of inquiry-based education) which makes the instruction less boring. The main goals of the instruction should be to provide students opportunities to think about the content knowledge offered to them, to stimulate “sense-making” and reflection, to connect pieces of information from different contexts to understand the underlying unity of structures (rather than only specific context-recognizable features), to achieve a unified comprehension and a better overview of the many seemingly disconnected parts of the body of knowledge, to get to use to a “scientific approach” and “scientific attitude of mind”, to acquire new competences, but also new knowledge and to recognize its generals features. This way, students get significantly more procedural knowledge which means competences necessary to successfully cope with new and unknown tasks, problems and situations. In addition, it improves the memorization process through sense-making, discussions etc. which are an integral part of inquiry-based learning, making it easier to remove misconceptions and deepen understanding. This should enable students to become better prepared to face and cope with new, unexpected situations and problems, and to tackle and solve them successfully. New methods and approaches to be adopted in the class depend on the circumstances: on the students’ interests, background knowledge, working habits, goals etc. In our contribution, we present our experience with the introductory physics course for the second-year students of mathematics; during the courses, there were little possibilities to make demonstration experiments and, moreover, the students had no lab experiments. In order to make the course nearer to their interests and working practice, we integrated into the instruction some “instruction refreshments”—new topics (introducing them with some “weird”, provoking questions) which were not part of the physics syllabus (although close to the topics in it)—the equivalence principle, k-calculus in special relativity (H. Bondi), interference experiments with particles, and the connections of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and statistics. These topics were closer to a real “scientific” and “research-like” problems and created among students, although on a theoretical level, a more “investigative science learning environment” (ISLE). The students got the basic knowledge of these topics within the course, but they got (non-compulsory) home assignments in which they had to work out the details. Some of the (obsolete) topics being part of the syllabus were omitted not to overload the course. It seems that the additional topics, apart from having a motivational effect, clarified (and led to a better understanding of) several physical concepts, revealed some misconceptions and created a wider and deeper physical picture. The response of students to the “interludes” was tested through a questionnaire, conversations and interviews; we also administered pre-test and post-tests to estimate the impact of the additional topics on the students’ end knowledge.

Keywords Physics instruction, inquiry-based teaching/learning, motivation, investigative science learning environment (ISLE).

Introduction

The goal of instruction is to convey students the necessary knowledge to be able, in their future professional career, to successfully face and cope with new problems, unexpected situations, circumstances in which they will have to decide as to what and how to act etc. In the past few decades, the highest European institutions have devoted some of their attention to the question of how to achieve appropriate and sufficient level of school instruction in the member states. In the Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning [Official Journal L 394 of 30.12.2006] the notion of competences and key competences was elaborated and put forward as the principal aim to be

achieved in the education process. In the PISA 2009 Assessment Framework, the concept was further analysed and put in practical context and use. Certainly, the term “competence” is (still) somewhat new, but many teachers/professionals in education followed explicitly or implicitly, to a greater or lesser extent, the instructional aim to give students, apart from sheer knowledge, also the ability and skills to use the acquired knowledge in practical situations. Nevertheless, the clear and succinct definitions of competences (“combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context”), key competences (“which all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active Page | 203 citizenship, social inclusion and employment”), the emphasis on the fact that “a competency is more than just knowledge and skills” (OECD, 2003) and that “it includes the capacity to mobilize cognitive and non-cognitive resources in any given context” represent clear and simple guidelines for teachers to follow. More specifically, competences in science (“the ability and willingness to use the body of knowledge and methodology employed to explain the natural world, in order to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions”) also underline some important basic facts on which the instruction should be based (one of a paramount importance and nevertheless often ignored is “to draw evidence-based conclusions”). In addition, the emphasis, in the Reference Framework, on a number of themes (critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving etc.) has made a substantial impact on the way of thinking and on choosing the priorities in the process of instruction. In the PISA 2009 Assessment Framework (on Key Competencies in Reading, Mathematics and Science) the term “science literacy” was introduced denoting “an overarching competency comprising a set of three specific scientific competencies”, these being i) to identify scientific issues, ii) to explain phenomena scientifically, and iii) to use scientific evidence. These principles represent a good foundation on which to build the instruction process and appropriate guidelines to be followed. Yet, in the classroom work, it is necessary to find concrete ways and methods in order to motivate students and help them acquire the desired aim. The problem of how to achieve teaching results is connected to the question of finding “good teaching practice”. Teaching and learning is an activity, where many variables arise on which the overall results depend. Some of them are obvious, e.g. where and when the instruction takes place, on social environment, tradition, psychology of participants, linguistic issues etc. Some general features of good practices as put forward by the American Association of Higher Education (1987) are worth mentioning: good practice encourages interaction between students and faculty, encourages interaction and collaboration between students, uses active learning techniques, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates high expectations, respects diversity—talents, experience, and ways of learning. Among the “specific” good practices, we mention the following important points, which, to our mind, should be taken into account in instruction: - the need of connecting various pieces of content knowledge, emphasizing the overview issues; - drawing attention to analogous elements, linking the apparently not related topics and concepts, showing/stressing the underlying similarity/unity of concepts; - treating general/unifying topics covering a wider area of physics/science; - in consequence: economizing/diminishing the amount of stuff to be learned; - in consequence: getting a clearer picture and better understanding of the structure and meaning of knowledge; - obtaining a better meta-view – a better knowledge about physics/science itself.

In this contribution, we want to present an attempt to make the physics instruction at the university level more attractive to students (a possible example of “good practice” in teaching physics). We had two groups of students: the first group consisted of students of Mathematics program, 2nd year, the course title: Physics; the second group consisted of students of Subject Teacher Education program, 2nd cycle, course title: Selected Topics from Physics with Didactics. In both groups, students, in general, found little motivation to study the more or less “chewed-up” traditional physics which they already encountered, at different exacting levels, in the introductory and secondary school. Our goal was to investigate the efficiency and universality/applicability of our approach for students of different background knowledge and interests to get interested in physics.

An example of a “good practice”?

The two groups were very different; the Mathematics students were good in mathematics, had (almost) no prior interest in sciences, and were open to “challenges” involving the use of mathematics. The Subject Teacher Education students were i) interested in physics (“in principle”, meaning that they had some curiosity and willingness to know, but were not ready to invest a great deal of time and effort in studying), ii) not very skilful in mathematics, iii) they did not like derivations, proofs or “difficult topics”, iv) were opposed to

memorization, but v) were interested in educational issues, had ideas about teaching, but often modest content knowledge. Despite the different background and interests of the two groups, we tried to excite curiosity and stir their motivation using the same “tactics”: by inclusion into the physics syllabus “instruction refreshments”—topics, which were not part of the course syllabus, from which, however, they could learn also the syllabus physics in a more attractive way. The approach included - unexpected facts, surprises , Page | 204 - connections with various others fields of knowledge, - extensions of known facts, - warnings about the validity of the previously learned “truths”, - clarification of uncertainties, doubts etc. Sometimes students themselves suggested topics outside the course syllabus. The additional topics offered often incomplete, yet interesting new knowledge. Our motivation and goals were to - make physics instruction less boring—to offer something interesting—“just for the fun of it”, - stimulate thinking, - stir reflection / sense-making, - acquire new knowledge, - acquire new competences, - acquire “scientific attitude of mind”, - get better, broader, deeper understanding etc. The additional topics were often introduced by asking some “weird” questions, like: Is warm water heavier than cold water? Is a moving person heavier than when at rest? Does gravity “pull down” light rays? / Does light fall in a gravitational field (as stones do)? Does gravity affect the flow of time? (= does the rate of growing older depend on the altitude?) Can an electron (proton, photon, …) be split up? (Interference experiments with particles.)

Additional topics

Among the additional topics, we included - equivalence principle, - k-calculus (special relativity, H. Bondi (1967)), - interference experiments with particles (“Nobody knows how it can be like that.” (Feynman, 1992); “…it contains the only mystery [of all quantum mechanics]” (Feynman, 1966)), - laws of thermodynamics and living systems, - conservation laws, classic and quantal. The details of the contents and instruction methods will be described elsewhere.

Assessment

During the course, students got assignments of various levels of difficulty; they were not compulsory, but it was recommended to students to try to do solve them or to ask if they were not able to find solutions.

At the end of the course, a test was performed separately for Mathematics students and for Subject Teacher Education students. Both groups were small. Therefore, we did administer questionnaires, but only made qualitative evaluation of answers. In Fig. 1, the additional topics the Mathematics students liked most are shown (the numbers above the columns mark the number of students who liked a particular topic out of the whole number of students). The last topic, the traditional central force problem, the inverse-square law of force and the motion in time in the Kepler problem, was suggested by students. Students found the most attractive subject to be the relativity theory, followed by the equivalence principle. Both of them require considerable mathematics skills and may be largely thought of as mathematical problems; this explains their “popularity” among (good) mathematics students. Assignments. Mathematics students got questions and assignments: 1. What is mass? 2. Devise some experiments to verify the equivalence principle. 3. Tidal forces. What would the tides look like, if the Earth were fixed somewhere in the space with the Moon revolving around? 4. Consider the following consequences of the equivalence principle: a) deflection of light in a gravitational field, b) gravitational time dilation (how clocks run in a gravitational field), c) the gravitational redshift, d) does a uniformly accelerating charge radiate? Assignments results: 5/13 (5 out of 13) students made adequately 5 assignments or more, 7/13 students made 3 or 4 assignments; 5/13 students did not hand in any assignment sheet.

Page | 205

Figure 1. Mathematics students’ favorite additional topics

Students’ comments

Students evaluated qualitatively the “additional topics”. The mathematics students found that these topics - motivated, stirred curiosity, - helped connect various themes, created overview, understanding unifying elements, - showed interesting problems where known mathematics methods could be used to obtain results, - some facts encountered earlier were clarified and better understood, - the “force of mathematics” was discovered as a powerful tool to tackle non-mathematical problems. Teacher Education students (they were only 8): They did no problem-solving assignments, but didactic seminars. Some seminar titles: - Review of primary textbook explanations of mass, - Relativity of time, about the twin paradox (presentation of Bondi ideas), - Life; why we have to eat? - “Scientific truths”. They estimated that the additional topics offered a good supplement to the syllabus and they found that they - were “useful topics” helping to understand (or better understand) other topics and physics in general, - offered overview over various fields of physics, - stimulated students to ask questions and do sense-making, - learned to know better, when they did not understand something and to be aware of the need to understand.

Students estimated that the topics were mostly difficult to understand; it was through discussions after seminars that they often got to really understand a point (for example, the Einstein toy, connected with the notion of “weightlessness”). They also found that they got better content knowledge, but still with gaps. At first, there was a good reception of the “overview/connecting” approach. However, towards the end of the semester (when the study material accumulated), the question arose of “What does all this serve an elementary school teacher?” It was probably the extent of the study material that frightened them.

Conclusions

For Mathematics students, the additional topics meant a refreshment and challenge (esp. for their “mathematics skills in action”). For many of them, it was an important stimulation for their interest in physics, and in science in general. The power of mathematics was discovered in dealing with non-mathematical problems. For future teachers, the additional topics meant refreshment, but at the same time also difficult study material; they found that they - stirred curiosity,

- at first, they were predominantly motivating and stimulating, later appeared too broad and hardly manageable, therefore a source of problems; - students’ advice to the teacher: from the beginning on, it is necessary to apply “more pressure” to make them study; - they felt a need for more discussions, “even when they are nodding” and even though they were not very “talkative”; Page | 206 - the new topics stimulated sense-making and understanding; - they unveiled misconceptions and helped to correct them; - they stimulated independent learning (students now know better how to learn); - the presentation should be more primary school adapted; - despite flaws: at the end, better students got general content knowledge and understanding, and far better knowledge of what parts of the content knowledge it is necessary to supplement/clarify/replace.

References H. Bondi, H. (1967). Assumption and Myth in Physical Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Feynman, R. P. (1992). The Character of Physical Law, Penguin, London, England.

Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B. and Sands, M. (1966). The Feynman Lectures in Physics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts.

PISA 2009 Assessment Framework - Key Competencies in Reading, Mathematics and Science (http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/pisa2009assessmentframewo rk-keycompetenciesinreadingmathematicsandscience.htm)

Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council 2006/962/EC. (http://www.marilenabeltramini.it/materiali/europe/EUkeycompetenciesframeworkdec2006.pd)

The Selection and Definition of Key Competences, Executive summary (2005). (http://www.oecd.org/pisa/35070367.pdf).

Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (1987). American Association of Higher Education (http://www.aahe.org/technology/ehrmann.htm).

Affiliation and address information Tomaž Kranjc Faculty of Education University of Ljubljana Kardeljeva ploščad 16 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia e-mail: [email protected]

Space Science in Thermodynamics

Annamária Komáromi MSc, teacher of mathematics and physics Physics Education PhD Program Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary

Page | 207 Abstract There are various strategies to make physics more appealing for pupils. I believe the significantly increased involvement of the results of space research could be a possible way to improve the situation. The story of ESA CubeSats and Education – Fly Your Satellite! Programme offers excellent opportunity for an increased exposure of space research, as those university students who designed and created these satellites are slightly older than our secondary school pupils. By satellites, interest towards a technical vocations could be raised among the secondary school age group. In my presentation I demonstrate that nearly all topics of thermodynamics support an outlook to space as well, without neglecting the experiments and examples used for decades. When teaching the concept of thermodynamics we can talk about the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and the temperature of space, about the warming and cooling of satellites. At heat transfer methods we can analyse the radiations affecting the satellites. Taking off from the surface of Earth, we can wander into the topic of greenhouse effect. In solving problems in the topic of thermal expansion, we can again use satellites. When teaching the change of physical state, arctic sea ice extent may be mentioned and in relation to this we can speak about the role the satellites play in the research of climate change. Moving into space, we can talk about space weather that affects the operation of satellites. In relation to the principles of thermodynamics, the relatively new concept of space debris can also be explored. In my experience, pupils in physics classes sometimes love to leave Earth and wander in space in their imagination. Compared to previous years, relatively more pupils of mine, who are interested in music art, choose physics for final exams, even on advanced level, and take part in competitions.

Keywords Thermodynamics, space research, satellite, CubeSat.

Introduction

The teaching of physics has been in a difficult state for the last decades not only in Hungary but in all Europe. Most students do not like physics, and our task as teachers is to change it. There are many teachers who try to do something – depending on the availability of resources at their schools – so that physics can become more appealing to students. It is important that due to these efforts, not only more students will want to join physics faculties at universities or choose careers in engineering, but all students will enjoy this subject. I teach at a secondary school which is also a music conservatory, and cope with this challenge regularly. I want to begin by saying that in the twenty-first century – a time when the media often talks about issues influencing the future of humanity – it is essential that we no longer use only the same examples we did two decades ago when we taught the basic notions and laws of physics. We have to keep up with the latest scientific research, because its results are very interesting and allow the students to understand better the curriculum. It is necessary to discuss not only the results of such research, but to explain how they are used in real life. This way, there will be no “gap” between students’ knowledge of the main curriculum and their knowledge of the phenomena of everyday life. In this article I want to illustrate how one can use the results of space research in the teaching of thermodynamics. At first it may seem like a risky venture to say that we can illustrate and explain the basic laws of large, separate areas of physics in secondary school with, for instance, satellites and space probes. But if we look more closely, we can see that, surprisingly, there is a wide range of possibilities in this area. I have been focusing on this topic for some years now, and have continuously tried to increase the application of space exploration in my physics teaching. I chose space research because in our everyday lives we encounter tools and services related to it almost every minute. These rely on cutting-edge technology and represent the successes of serious research, quite often space research. In addition, through space exploration we also expand our knowledge of astronomical phenomena, which have a determinate role in the destiny of our planet. In spite of this, so far the topic of space research is touched upon only in 2-3 lessons in the physics curriculum in Hungary, and has only now been given a little more importance. I usually attempt to make lots of references to the MaSat-1 Hungarian picosatellite, which was made for educational purposes, and is part of the CubeSat program of ESA. The MaSat-1 has functioned perfectly for almost 3 years as opposed to the predicted 3 months. It is also important to note that the planners of MaSat-1 were mostly university students, who were just a little older than secondary school students

(http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/). This fact may help bring the subject of physics closer to students. Experiments are very important in the teaching of physics, and MaSat-1 happens to be a great experiment.

Temperatures on Earth and in space

In class, we can work with a web page that tracks satellites (e.g. http://www.n2yo.com/) and ask the students to figure out the temperature zone in which the tracked satellite is orbiting at the moment. We then explain to the Page | 208 students that satellites must be functional in a very large range of temperatures. After that, we can discuss the pronounced temperature differences between the sunny and shadowy sides of an orbiting satellite, which can be very large (hundreds of Kelvins), in spite of the fact that the ambient temperature along the orbit is constant. Satellites are therefore usually quickly spinning in order to avoid mechanical tensions, which could otherwise cause a malfunction. In the case of the aforementioned CubeSat program’s MaSat-1 picosatellite, the satellite’s inner temperature was continuously monitored throughout its lifespan, and when it dropped below 5oC ground control switched on the heating in order to protect its sensitive accumulator. The internal heating was necessary when the orbiting phase of Masat-1 was located in the shadow of Earth and therefore the solar panels could not utilize the energy of the Sun. Still maintaining our focus on temperature, we can mention remote sensing satellites again; namely that they can help us in the forecast of volcano eruptions by tracking the temperature above a crater, which rises before an eruption. This temperature increase is detected by the remote sensors of satellites. For the sake of curiosity, we can show the heat map of 67 comets, which was made in August 2014 [1]. It helped scientists find a good landing spot on a comet for Rosetta's landing probe Philae. They chose a site which was neither too hot nor too cold for the Philae Lander.

Heat Transfer and the Greenhouse Effect

After a discussion of the fundamental methods of heat transfer, we can ask: which of these methods do not exist in the space? It is helpful to analyse the heat radiation that reaches a satellite using Figure 1.

Figure 1. Radiation affecting low-orbiting satellites.

On the other hand, it is important to note that the only way by which a satellite can get rid of excess heat is the irradiation of its surface. We should emphasize that this phenomenon was already known by Kirchoff in the nineteenth century. By means of Figure 2, we can discuss the notion of planetary albedo, which is substantially different from surface albedo. We can also teach the basics of greenhouse effect in the figure. The different greenhouse gases absorb the largest part of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth surface, warm up the atmosphere, and re-emit energy toward the Earth and space. We can also mention Venus where the greenhouse effect is the strongest in the Solar System.

It is important to emphasize that CO2, which is often said to be the most significant factor in greenhouse effect, is responsible only for 10-25% of atmospheric warming, the rest is determined by water vapour (36-72%).

Thermal Expansion and Spacecraft Shields

When teaching this topic – after we made some basic experiments – it is worth to refer to space. It is quite didactic to discuss the exercise in which we ask what was the percentage of change in the length of the side of MaSat-1 and in its surface and volume, when the internal temperature reached the critically low temperature of 5°C, compared to what they were at the place of launch, where the temperature was 25°C. At first glance, the Page | 209 task looks simple. We can tell the student that the material of the cube is a special type of aluminum, and one can find the coefficient of thermal expansion in a data booklet. Several students will simply take the value from the table, plug it into the correct formula, and calculate the answer thinking that everything is correct. They will neglect the facts that the thermal coefficient of thermal expansion which was in the table is valid only at the normal atmospheric pressure of 101325 Pa, and the cubesat is not made from a homogeneous piece of bulk metal. By means of this example, we can discuss more effectively what a huge challenge it was for the designers of MaSat-1 to choose suitable materials for the shell, fittings, soldering, inner joints of the integrated circuits, etc, which function well in space. Here we can mention space technology, which deals with the research and developments that allow the operation of a spacecraft. A good example of the achievements of space technology is that the fluctuation of the inner temperature of VesselSat-2 – which is a Luxembourgian micro satellite and CubeSat built and owned by LuxSpace, with an edge of 30 cm – is maximum 1 degree Celsius when the satellite moves in orbit, and is at most 6 degrees Celsius due to the change of seasons (source: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vesselsat- 1.htm). The role of the spacecraft shield can be an excellent topic to research for the students. We can motivate them with a video from a website dealing with space research, which describes the inflatable spacecraft shield [2], for example.

Gas Laws

While teaching gas laws, we can examine again the Earth’s atmosphere. We can review measurements on the atmospheric gases density decreases with altitude. As an extracurricular activity, we can discuss in more detail that, according to the barometric formula, pressure decreases exponentially with altitude. That formula determines the dependence of the pressure or density of an ideal gas on altitude in a homogeneous gravitational field at a constant temperature. We call to the student’s attention that it is better to use the logarithmic scale to graphically visualize the exponential relationship. (See “Pressure” in Figure 2). Analysing parallel the panels in Figure 2 (“Temperature vs. Altitude” and “Pressure vs. Altitude”), we may find a discrepancy about the assumption of constant temperature. But if we investigate it further, we will conclude that the change of absolute temperature remains in a narrow range compared to the change of pressure, however a slight undulation (two barely noticeable bulges) is visible on the pressure profile, as a consequence of changing temperature.

1976 U.S. Standard Atmosphere: 1976 U.S. Standard Atmosphere: Temperature vs. Altitude Pressure vs. Altitude

90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40

Altitude (km) Altitude 30 (km) Altitude 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 150 200 250 300 0,0001 0,01 1 100 10000 Temperature (K) Pressure (kPa)

Figure 2. Change of temperature and pressure of atmosphere (Source: http://faculty.virginia.edu/ribando/modules/xls/ accessed Jun 09, 2016).

We can explain to the class that Earth's atmosphere does not have a clear-cut border. At an altitude of approximately 300-400 km, the density of atmosphere continuously approaches the density of interplanetary space in the solar system. Here we should mention that the orbiting height of satellites must be at least at this altitude in order to ensure their smooth operation. It is beneficial now to take a detour to Mars and Venus. The global chemical composition of these terrestrial planets is very similar to that of Earth, but the most significant component of their atmosphere is CO2. The atmosphere of Mars is so sparse that the pressure on the surface is

only 0.7-0.9 kPa. In contrast to that, the pressure on the surface of Venus is 9.2 MPa. Besides the pressure, the surface temperature on these planets is very different from that of the Earth (218 K on Mars and 730 K on Venus).

Changing States of Matter and Climate Change

We teach the changing states of a system in the subject of thermodynamics. However, in a 21st century physics Page | 210 class, we should not only talk about the melting of ice in a glass. We should also bring attention to the problem of the shrinking of permanent ice covers, thus arriving at the topic of global climate change. Here, satellites help us again; with them we can follow changes in the ice covers. As an example, Figure 3 illustrates annual melt day anomalies (the number of days when ice melt was reported compared to an average of 30 years) in four consecutive years. Climate change cannot be observed and interpreted by means of short sampling periods. The limited accuracy of climate projections is due to missing instrumental records of historical data, and deficiencies in the numerical models. Satellite measurements today provide data of continuous global geographic covering on hundreds of atmospheric and oceanic parameters, however a dense enough network of meteorological satellites operates only for a couple of decades.

Figure 3. Greenland’s annual melting day anomaly 2011-2014 (Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center/Thomas Mote, University of Georgia, http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/2015/01/ accessed Jun 09, 2016).

The First Law of Thermodynamics and Space Debris

In its simplest form, the First Law of Thermodynamics states that neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed. The amount of energy in the universe is constant. This law will be better understood if we give a wider range of examples. Let us look at satellites to see how we can prove the validity of this law. Consider a satellite in its orbit. Why does this “perpetual motion” not contradict this law? The students will probably give the right answer immediately that the satellite does not stay in its orbit forever; sooner or later it enters the Earth’s atmosphere due to friction, and after it burns out. With this connection we can mention the problem of space debris. The satellite’s return into the atmosphere and its annihilation, however, can be a very long process. Therefore, there may be satellites which no longer function but might stay in orbit for years, even decades. An interesting example of this is the ENVISAT, an Earth-monitoring satellite of ESA, which will be a ghost in space for 150 years. This problem is a new challenge for space research in the twenty-first century; it is necessary to deal with

the increasing number of space debris. Considering the data of 2016 [3], there are more than half a million pieces of space debris of varying sizes. It is worth mentioning this in physics class; certainly there are students who would be fascinated by space debris.

Page | 211

Figure 4. Space debris detected around the Earth (larger than 5cm in diameter). (Sources: [4]).

The website of ESA features an article that describes how ESA is trying to work out a method to capture satellites. In this method, they would use harpoon to capture an ungovernable, dysfunctional spacecraft. The question that also might arise in the student is this: what would happen if these spacecraft collided? In spite of the incredibly enormous quantity of space debris, calculations support that the probability of collision is very little. When I talk about this in class, I show an article to the students detailing an unprecedented, serious space collision. It happened in 2009 when a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite collided above northern Siberia.

Closing Remarks

I have been using examples from space research in my teaching for many years, always changing and expanding the references in order to make the subject of physics more colourful. Since I started to use this method, several students of my classes have done research in the topic of space technology and have taken part successfully in the ‘Physics in Science and Arts Competition’, in spite of the fact that they study to be professional musicians. This competition is a good possibility for another learning pathway. Nowadays it is important, that the education of physics will not only happen in the classroom, but will also happen in other places. For example I visited with my students the control centre of MaSat-1 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and we have listened to a presentation about MaSat-1given by a university student. I believe it is important that students learn more about space research even if they go into a completely different field of study, since in nowadays this area plays a bigger and bigger role in our everyday life.

References [1] http://rosetta.esa.int/ (http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/09/08/virtis-maps-comet-hot-spots/) (accessed Jun 09, 2016) [2] Moskowitz, C. (2009). Inflatable Spacecraft Shield Works, Space Test Shows. Space.com (August 17, 2009); http://www.space.com/7144-inflatable-spacecraft-shield-works-space-test-shows.html/ (accessed Jun 09, 2016) [3] NASA, Orbital Debris Quarterly News, Volume 20 (2016), Issues 1&2 April, p 13 http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/ODQNv20i1-2.pdf (accessed Jun 09, 2016) [4] NASA, edited by Mark Garcia, Space Debris and Human Spacesraft, Last updated July 31, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html#.VQWyJo5wspk (accessed Jun 09, 2016)

Affiliation and address information Annamária Komáromi King St. Stephen Secondary School of Music Budapest Columbus utca 11. H-1145 Hungary e-mail: [email protected]

General Relativity for Secondary School Students

Matěj Ryston Department of Physics Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Page | 212 Abstract The two well-known physics theories, Special Relativity (SR) and General Relativity (GR) are not part of the Czech secondary school curriculum [Balada, 2007]. SR, though formerly commonly taught at Czech grammar schools, is therefore left for optional physics seminars at secondary schools (in better cases). GR, on the other hand, has never been commonly taught during secondary education because of its apparent conceptual and technical difficulty. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive and accurate source of information about relativity in the form of a dedicated website. Because more information is available about SR, we will focus on GR. This paper comprises a detailed description of the website’s planned structure and content.

Keywords Theory of relativity, secondary school, self-education.

Introduction

A secondary school student1 interested in the subject of relativity has mostly two options of getting more information. Reading a book about relativity or searching for information on the Internet. Although the numbers of Czech and English sources are obviously very different and English-speaking students are at a distinct advantage, both groups of sources appear to be qualitatively similar. Available books can be generally divided into two categories, popular and technical. Popular books (e.g. [Wolfson, 2003]) tend to talk about the subject of relativity, make statements, use analogies, describe thought experiments but almost painstakingly avoid any mathematical treatment of the subject.2 On the other hand, there are more technical introductory physics textbooks (such as [Hartle, 2003], [Walecka, 2007] or [Ta-Pei, 2010]) concerning relativity, mostly meant for college students, which require a substantial amount of prior knowledge in both mathematics and physics, such as differential calculus or SR. These books develop the theory of relativity rigorously and in full extent but are not suitable for readers with “only” upper-secondary school knowledge. In recent years, more physics books, such as [Mermin, 2005] or [Steane, 2011], have been published that try to compromise between these two “extremes”. They provide the reader with easily digestible treatment of a given topic as well as lay down more concrete analysis based on equations and quantitative data. However, these books mostly deal only with SR. As mentioned above, we intend to provide a comprehensive, detailed study material for students interested in the subject of general relativity. As the form of the presentation a website was chosen for apparent advantages over a traditional textbook-like format. These advantages include easy accessibility via Internet, the use of animations and applets (as opposed to static illustrations in books) and most importantly immediate links to additional sources of information such as physics videos and scientific blogs. The main part of this paper will describe in detail all the relevant aspects of this website, which is currently in development. Let us also mention one possible disadvantage of a website presentation. Although Internet connection is widespread in developed countries, not everybody is able to surf the Internet any time they want. For example, they might not have Internet access at home. This obstacle can be avoided by supplying a downloadable offline version of the website. This version would be exactly the same as the online version, although the links to external secondary sources would not be functional and one would have to view them when online. Similarly, the even rarer case of the reader not having the opportunity of using electronic devices such as a computer, tablet or smartphone can be solved by printing out the website and use it as a regular textbook. This way, the reader would be able to view only still images instead of animations and interactive applets but that is the case of regular textbooks anyway. For that reason we often refer to the website as a study text.

1 For brevity, we will use the word student as the receiver of information. Although we wish to make the text accessible by a broad range of potential readers, certain prior knowledge of upper-secondary (ISCED 3) physics and mathematics is necessary. So, our term “student” includes also secondary school graduates interested in the subject who are possibly part of our target audience. 2 Sadly, it is often said that “every equation in popular books reduces the potential group of readers by half”.

Popular sources on the Internet

Videos and science blogs The constantly increasing spread of Internet technology has brought, among other things, a great opportunity for popularization of science, physics included, in the form of (mostly) Youtube1 videos and scientific blogs. In the first case, among the most relevant channels dealing with relativity (but possibly other areas of physics as well) Page | 213 are [MinutePhysics], [PBS Space Time] and [Veritasium]. The numbers of views that can be seen at every video show that there is a large group of people interested in these topics. For the reasons of attracting wide audience, these videos are kept brief and don’t usually delve deeper in the given subject, therefore they cannot be considered a standalone source of knowledge. However, they can serve greatly as accompaniment to a more standard exposition. As a teacher can show these videos during a lesson to better illustrate given topic, they can be inserted into the study text on the proposed webpage. They can for example introduce a topic which can be then explained more in detail. A similar argument can be made about scientific blogs or scientific-news-dedicated websites such as [From Quarks to Quasars] (FQTQ). Again, the number of people browsing these pages (in the case of FQTQ there are nearly 1.5 million people subscribed to their Facebook page) show the popularity of such media. Of course, these websites, as well as previously mentioned videos, are often not subjected to scientific review and remain a secondary source of information which should be received with caution and critical mind. Nevertheless, selected articles can be used after consideration also as an accompaniment to the study text.

International scientific projects Another practical use of science popularization that is already in place are international scientific projects, the most important of which are (for our purposes) the International Space Station (ISS) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Both projects receive attention among Internet users interested in science and their popularization is largely supported and maintained by NASA and CERN respectively (see for example [International Space Station] and [Large Hadron Collider]). These projects can be used to illustrate relatively easy physics phenomena that are a necessary part of the relativity development such as freely falling local inertial frames in the case of ISS and special-relativistic properties of particles with LHC. Therefore we can support our theoretical exposition by actual, presently functioning experiments. Moreover, we can push the interested reader towards available popularization materials (including hundreds of videos, presentations and articles) and thus help increase the public support and interest in similar scientific endeavours. In addition to currently ongoing projects and experiments, relevant historical experiments will be mentioned as well, as is usual in most modern textbooks.

Features of planned website

Structure of the study text Our goal is to provide a rigorous quantitative exposition of relativity and at the same time avoid discouraging potential readers by a seeming mathematical complexity. A solution of the problem is creation of the text in layers of increasing difficulty. A similar approach can be found in a well-known book about gravitation [Misner et al, 1973]. By going through most of the selected topics first, only on a very introductory, more qualitative level we give the readers the opportunity to get used to the new presented ideas of relativity. Then we can go through most of the topics again but with a more detailed and quantitative treatment, thus allowing students to choose the level of exposition they feel comfortable with. Authors of most books have to choose the difficulty of their text and therefore can discourage potential readers by either being relatively difficult or too easy and not presenting new information. The current in-progress design of the website includes three layers with increasing difficulty (and the amount of technical details) of the selected topics (see Figure 1). The reader can choose to follow the text “horizontally”, which means following one layer after another, or move “vertically”, going through a complete and full exposition of a given topic before continuing to the next. This design introduces flexibility towards the reader based on their prior knowledge and skill. Nevertheless, we need to include a clear and easy-to-use system of orientation, something that can be readily done using website structure and common HTML technology.

1 www.youtube.com

So far, the first layer of the study text has been created and is now being improved based on a textbook research. As our target audience are primarily Czech upper-secondary students, the website will be in Czech and English. For the purposes of expert review, we intend to publish the first layer on its own (in both languages) and then gradually add more content based on the reviews and further research. Furthermore, the Czech readers will be exposed to English external sources. In the case of the videos, subtitles can be provided (or often already are). In the case of other English websites, it is not in our power to provide Czech translations. However, this could be viewed as a motivation for the students to process information in English, which is beneficial for their education Page | 214 and further careers.

Figure 5. The in-progress structure of the proposed study text as presented at the GIREP EPEC 2015 conference.

Moreover, as we want to encourage the reader to actual derivations using secondary-school-level mathematics and, again, at the same time not discourage potential readers, we should give the reader the option to choose which mathematical derivations they want to follow. This is often done in textbooks with the use of appendices. However, the use of web technology gives us the opportunity to prepare parts of the text that can be unrolled by the student if they choose to do so. We believe this will add to the desired clarity of the study text. Similar technology can be seen on Wikipedia or in the [Collection of Solved Tasks in Physics].

Choice of topics

The critical part of any (semi)popular exposition is the choice of particular topics. Our goal is to create a comprehensive, yet “digestible” source of information. Because the website will most likely be the students’ first thorough encounter with relativity, we want to focus on the most essential parts of relativity, especially when it comes to SR because our main focus is GR, and spending too much time with SR might prove counterproductive to our goals. A more detailed analysis of the choice of topics based on research is given in another conference paper [Ryston, 2015]. We shall now briefly comment on the choice of the four main “chapters” (four columns in Figure 1). Basic concepts Prior knowledge of the reader is an important factor in preparing any text to study. In most relativity textbooks a classical introduction is usually included not only to revise the knowledge necessary later but also to stress some important ideas that the reader will need in further chapters. The development of relativity is very counterintuitive and relies on the very basic principles of nature observation. Moreover, many “classical” notions have to be contradicted when introducing relativity and one cannot be sure that the reader has encountered such

notions before (usually during secondary school education). Important concepts such as different frames of reference or coordinate transformations are rarely included in common physics classes. Therefore it is vital to cover these topics before starting with relativity itself. It also gives the reader time to get used to physical argumentation and general style of the study text before proceeding with more difficult topics. Also, it proves useful to start talking about the geometry of Euclidean space in the terms of the 3D Pythagorean theorem, which will later get generalized to flat-spacetime metric in SR and general curved-spacetime metric in Page | 215 GR (see section Special relativity). Classical relativity It is likely that most people when they encounter relativity think of the “modern”1 Einsteinian relativity. It is useful, however, to point out that the idea of relativity is more than strange, unfamiliar phenomena that happen when moving very fast or being in stronger gravitational field. It is the idea that certain physical quantities depend on our point of view (i.e. frame of reference) and are not absolute in their nature. These ideas have been around for quite some time (sometimes we talk about so called “Galilean relativity”) and are surely more understandable than the following theories of the twentieth century. So, they are an important step between classical mechanics and modern relativity and are helpful in carrying the reader over this conceptually difficult threshold. Galilean transformation connecting two inertial frames of reference, for one, is mathematically quite simple, yet it serves as a practical introduction leading to the important Lorentz transformation. It is also useful to illustrate what it means for a physical law to be invariant under a transformation, in this case the Newton’s Second Law. In this sense, classical relativity serves as a sort of “dry run” in semi-familiar territory for the student before proceeding to SR. Special relativity As mentioned before, it is not our intention to provide a full treatment of SR as there is much more material available on it than on GR. However, we believe that some parts of SR are necessary for proper development of GR, since it is a historical and conceptual descendant of its special predecessor. J. Hartle [Hartle, 2006] summarizes the most important idea of general relativity as follows: “Gravity is geometry (of spacetime).” This summary can be often seen cited by more popular literature and it is not difficult for any student to recite this. However, if we want the students to develop real conceptual understanding of this idea, we need to introduce spacetime, geometry (i.e. curvature) and finally geometry of spacetime (in this order). Now we can see the main role that SR plays in our proposal, to introduce the concept of spacetime. Going from special relativistic effects of time dilation and length contraction to uniting time and space into one with the help of the Lorentz transformation, we can introduce the reader to the idea of space and time being one physical entity (or at least a useful construct at first). Subtle introduction of flat spacetime geometry in the special relativistic case using only the spacetime interval Δ = −(Δ) + (Δ) + (Δ) + (Δ) (1) can be used later on when we introduce the concept of curvature and more importantly the metric. General relativity The most difficult and most important part of our exposition is general relativity. The particular topics that will be discussed can be seen in Figure 1 (although minor changes are likely to take place during the review process). As you can see, the particular strain of topics is not original or new. It is not our goal to come up with a brand new and revolutionary way of relativity exposition. On the contrary, we want to use the developed and tested approach and present it in a new way using up-to-date methods of presentation (website, animation, applets, etc.). Also, thanks to the textbook research, we have conglomerated important details that not all authors of textbooks mention and we consider them useful for the student. Let us mention the probably most difficult part to implement in our study text, curvature of spacetime. From mathematical point of view, introducing non-Euclidian curvature is challenging because it traditionally involves differential calculus. Therefore, we need to be careful about the introduction of curvature. We cannot assume the knowledge of calculus of the students nor have we the space to develop it rigorously. We can, however, illustrate what it means for a surface to be curved (a sphere is especially useful in this regard). We can also propose the distance formula between two points on a sphere (as portrait by the Earth, for example). If we are forced to consider only two dimensions and abstract from the third one (just like we cannot look at four- dimensional spacetime from higher dimensions), we come to the conclusion that our analysis becomes much

1 With SR being about 110 years old, the term “modern” is used quite loosely here.

easier when we focus on very small increments in distance and then add them all together. So, we can try to illustrate the practice of differential geometry by using infinitesimal displacement and integration to obtain finite distances. This way is not rigorous and cannot substitute the proper mathematical development of differential geometry; however, we believe that for our purposes it is enough to provide the reader with the necessary insight while dodging the difficult mathematical technicalities (or at least moving them for later). And again, more rigorous Page | 216 mathematics can be hidden in unrollable parts of the text for a more mathematically versed reader. Thus we can arrive at a way to describe inner curvature of a surface, the two-dimensional metric d = d d . (2) , It is still possible for a human to imagine a curved surface with the help of our three-dimensional thinking. Curved space, however, is very difficult, if not impossible, to imagine. That is why students can have great difficulty when encountering this concept for the first time. We stress out that trying to imagine a curved 3D space should be avoided at first (or maybe at all) and we should rely on equations to take care of the difficulty for us. By doing this, coming from curved surface to curved space is just the matter of allowing indices in (2) to go up to three. This is an important step towards the metric of spacetime. We can review the special-relativistic interval and show that it is indeed the metric for the flat spacetime by changing finite displacement Δ to infinitesimal d in equation (1) (which we can do because the metric coefficients are constant). In doing so, we finally introduce the metric for general four-dimensional spacetime with indices going up to four (or, as is more commonly used, going from zero to three). This was just a brief comment to illustrate the proposed way how to overcome the biggest obstacle in general relativity which is mathematical difficulty. The exact details of this approach are expected to get refined after the expert review of the created study text. Alongside curvature, another very important part of general relativity exposition are the “new” relativistic effects (such as gravitational time dilation, red shift and the periastron shift of planets’ orbits) at which we can arrive using a variation of the standard approach via equivalence principle, local inertial frames, etc. In accordance with the basic principle of our study text, increasing layers of difficulty, we can start with a more or less qualitative description of the phenomena mentioning only some resultant formulas of the theory (e.g. the approximate formula for the perihelion shift of Mercury) that can be confronted with experiments. This is to create interest in the student by providing experimental results without necessarily delving into mathematical analysis of the problem. Also, more modern experiments should be included as they tend to be popularised by the scientific community on the Internet (see above). A more rigorous analysis of these phenomena can be added in the more advanced layers, after appropriate formalism is presented, while still following the principle that full mathematical derivations can be accessed by the reader but are not a mandatory part of the text. Finally, this layered design could be in theory developed further on and on (advancing into equations of motion, Einsteins’ equations, Schwarzschild solution of the Einstein’s equations and so forth). It is not yet clear where the proposed website will stop in terms of exposition. However, it is not our intent to substitute rigorous college relativity courses. Instead, we wish to inspire interested readers to take up the topic of relativity, to help them in the transition from secondary-school-level to college-level physics or just provide interested students with the fascinating information without the need to have a thorough understanding of the underlying mathematics.

Conclusion

We have presented plans for a website in development, which is supposed to help secondary school students and graduates grasp the basic concepts of relativity, with the emphasis on general relativity, with only the knowledge of secondary school physics. In doing so, we wish to present a compromise between strictly popular books and technical textbooks by developing a semi-technical exposition. The format of website presentation allows us, as opposed to static textbooks, to use various tools such as animations, applets and references to globally relevant international physics experiments, the likes of which are ISS and LHC. The main principle of the website is flexibility towards readers’ abilities and prior knowledge. We hope to achieve this by structuring the study text in layers of increasing difficulty (see Figure 1) and including optional full mathematical derivations in the form of unrollable parts of the text. Both classical and special relativity will be included in the text to prepare the readers and equip them for the part concerning general relativity. We consider the introduction to curvature as the most challenging as it is sensitive

to the amount of mathematics that is presented. Expert reviews of the website will be conducted followed by student reviews to verify the usability of the text. As the main target audience are Czech upper-secondary school students, the website will be primarily in Czech. However, an English version will be created as well to provide access for people from other countries. It is also possible that other language versions will be added if there are volunteers to make the translations.

Page | 217 References Balada, J. (2007). Framework education programme for secondary general education: (grammar schools): FEP SGE, Výzkumný ústav pedagogický v Praze, Prague, CZE Collection of Solved Tasks in Physics [online]. Department of Physics Education, Charles University in Prague [cit. 2015-10- 29]. Available at: http://physicstasks.eu/en From Quarks to Quasars [online] (scientific blog). [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com Hartle, J. (2003). Gravity: an introduction to Einstein's general relativity. Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, USA Hartle, J. (2006) General relativity in the undergraduate physics curriculum: An unconventional overview of relativity theory. American Journal of Physics. 74(1): 14-21. International Space Station. NASA Website [online]. [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Mermin, N. D. (2005). It's about time: understanding Einstein's relativity. 2nd ed. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA MinutePhysics [online] (Youtube channel). [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics Misner, C. W., Thorne K. S. and Wheeler J. A. (1973). Gravitation. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, USA Large Hadron Collider. Cern Website [online]. [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: http://home.cern/topics/large-hadron-collider PBS Space Time [online] (Youtube channel). [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g Ryston M. (2015). Theory of Relativity – How to Develop Its Understanding at a Secondary School Level. Proceedings of the Week of Doctoral Students 2015 conference, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, (paper currently in review process – 29.10.2015) Steane, A. M. (2011). The wonderful world of relativity: a precise guide for the general reader. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, New York, USA Ta-Pei, C. (2010). Relativity, gravitation and cosmology: a basic introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, New York, USA Veritasium [online] (Youtube channel). [cit. 2015-10-29]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium Walecka, J. D. (2007). Introduction to general relativity: an introduction to Einstein's general relativity. World Scientific, New York, USA Wolfson, R. (2003). Simply Einstein: relativity demystified. W.W. Norton, New York, USA

Affiliation and address information Matěj Ryston Department of Physics Education Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague V Holešovičkách 2, 180 00 Praha 8 e-mail: [email protected]

Bottle-and-Water-Jet Demonstration of Free-Fall Weightlessness: Do High School Students Know it and what are Their Explanations?

Jasmina Baluković1, Josip Sliško2 1Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matemáticas Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Page | 218 México

Abstract Weightlessness and its conceptual understanding form part of school physics programs in many countries. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the state of weightlessness is studied both in primary and secondary school. According to the physics curriculum of 9-year primary school, students should “describe and explain the state of weightlessness”. It implies that students should have for that topic some kind of inquiry-based learning experiences. Nevertheless, the treatments of weightlessness in corresponding physics textbook are mainly verbal, superficial, conceptually misleading and even explicitly wrong. The aim of this research was to answer the questions: Do high-school students know bottle-and-water-jet demonstration of free-fall weightlessness? How they explain the fact that the water doesn’t flow out of free-falling bottle with a hole near its bottom? Out of 100 students, 35 students declared that they did know that phenomenon, while 24 students said that they didn’t know it. 41 students could not remember if they have seen that phenomenon. Only 11 % of students who think they know the phenomenon and who connect surprising jet behaviour with the weightlessness of water, without giving reasons why that property of water stops the jet. More students (19 %) have an alternative explanation, unreported in research literature: The water jet doesn’t flow out in free fall, because the water goes up, placing itself above the hole. Some students even give an argument why it should be so: water has bigger mass and falls more slowly than the bottle. These results show that bottle-and-water-jet demonstration is suitable for designing inquiry-based learning of weightlessness phenomena.

Keywords Inquiry-based learning, weightlessness, students’ explanations, physics textbooks.

Introduction

Inquiry-based learning has recently become a general trend in science education all over the world, raising a whole spectrum of new challenges, ranging from professional development of science teachers (Lee et al., 2004) to process of evaluation of students’ performances (Liu, Lee & Linn, 2010). In such kind of learning, students are supposed to learn science by actively doing it (Jorgenson, Cleveland & Vanosdall, 2004). As basic science practices are exploration, description, explanation and prediction of scientific phenomena, students should have multiple opportunities to explore, describe, explain and predict qualitative and quantitative characteristics of those phenomena that are included in the school curriculum. There are different forms of designing inquiry- based learning sequences for students. The most known one is the learning sequence “Predict – Observe – Explain” (White & Gunstone, 1992; Kearney, 2004; Haysom & Bowen, 2010). In the first step, students are asked to predict what will happen if a certain change is carried out in a studied phenomenon or situation. After that, they observe what actually happened. If the observation doesn´t fit prediction, students should explain the differences and change those ideas and suppositions the wrong prediction was based on. The other sequence consists of different type of experimentations (Etkina et al, 2002). The goal of an observational experiment is that students observe a new phenomenon and later devise all possible explanations for their observation. A testing experiment serves to test which of proposed explanations for the observed phenomenon does and which doesn’t work. Namely, different explanations lead to different predictions about the outcome of new experiment related to the explored phenomenon. Finally, the aim of application experiment is to apply the explanation that has passed the testing experiment to explain new phenomena or to design technical devices. In this paper, we present results of an initial research, carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on high-school students’ knowledge of well-known demonstration with a water-filled bottle with hole in free fall.

Weightlessness in physics teaching and learning

Thanks to ever-increasing number of free-to-watch videos on YouTube, many amazing weightlessness phenomena happening in space ships, like International Space Station (ISS), are widely known to the general public. One can learn how astronauts live and work in such an unusual environment (Figure 1) or what happens when an effervescent tablet is dissolved in a floating ball of water (Figure 2). Page | 219

Figure 1. An astronaut floats in space ship (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdQA-pE2luQ).

Figure 2. A floating ball of water changes its form due to an effervescent tablet dissolved (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKk_7NIKY3Y).

Beside for its carefully planed scientific mission, ISS facilities are commonly used for education and popularization of space research (Mayorova et al., 2014). Some of educational programs are designed even for children. They are asked to predict behaviour of toys in ISS and late can observe how those toys actually behave (Morgan & Ansberry, 2012). Public curiosity about weightlessness opened a new market. There are companies that sell airplane flights in which buyers can have first-hand experience of weightlessness. Some funs of weightlessness even organize their “weightless wedding” (http://www.weightlesswedding.com). Being so, it is normal that weightlessness and its conceptual understanding form part of school physics programs. Nevertheless, their presence is rather controversial due to the fact that the term “weight” has multiple related meanings in scientific and everyday usage. Weight is ambiguously defined either “gravitationally” (the gravitational force on an object) or “operationally” (the magnitude of the force an object exerts on a measuring scale). In a recent documental research, carried out with twenty introductory college physics textbooks, it was found that language-related issues, such as different, inconsistent, or ambiguous uses of the terms weight, “apparent weight,” and “weightlessness,” were prevalent (Taibu, Rudge & Schuster, 2015). The physics of the related constructs was not always clearly presented, particularly for accelerating bodies such as astronauts in spaceships, and the language issue was rarely addressed.

Such situation brings conceptual and language difficulties for learners, especially for accelerating objects where the spring scale reading is different from the gravitational force. Galili (1995) explored students’ understanding of the concept of weightlessness among intermediate, high school and college students. He found that this understanding was negatively influenced by the confusion between two basic physics concepts, weight and gravitational force, that are often considered equal in a standard physics curriculum. The proposed causal structure of students’ knowledge might serve as an initial platform for interpreting a cluster of students’ alternative ideas about weight and related physical concepts and for guiding physics educators in the designing Page | 220 appropriate didactic strategies for classroom presentation of weight and gravity topics. Inadequate conceptual understanding of astronauts’ weightlessness was detected among teachers, too (Keinonen, 2007). By implementing 5E instructional model, consisting of Engaging, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration and Evaluation learning phases (Duran et al, 2011), it seems possible to improve prospective science teachers’ learning of weightlessness (Tural, Akdeniz & Alev, 2010). Active-learning cycles are commonly absent from the physics textbooks. The authors treat the phenomena related to weightlessness (apparent or real) in the contexts of satellites or using a “thought experiment” in which a person measures her weight with the help of a spring balance in a free-falling lift (Cutnell & Johnson, 2004; Giancoli, 2005; Walker, 2007; Young & Freedman, 2008). It is a strange situation because, in the educational journals and booklets, there were published many weightlessness demonstration suitable for being used in classroom or in schoolyard (Kruglak, 1962; Kruglak, 1963; Chakarvarti, 1978, Smith, 1989; Vogt & Wargo, 1992; Marshal, 2003; Corona, Slisko & Planinsic, 2006; Featonby, 2011).

Teaching weightlessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In a well-known model of curricular instances (Valverde et al., 2002), one can distinguish four levels: intended curriculum (official intentions, aims and goals), potentially implemented curriculum (textbooks and other organized resource materials), implemented curriculum (teachers’ teaching strategies, practice and activities) and attained curriculum (students’ knowledge, consisting of ideas, constructs and schemas). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, weightlessness is studied both in primary and secondary school. According to the primary school physics curriculum (“intended curriculum”), students should “describe and explain the state of weightlessness”. It implies that for the topic of weightlessness students should have some kind of inquiry-based learning experiences: observe, at least one weightlessness-related phenomena in classroom or at home, describe it and explain. Nevertheless, the treatments of weightlessness in corresponding physics textbook (“potentially implemented curriculum”) are mainly verbal, superficial, conceptually misleading and even explicitly wrong. The simplest, near-Earth demonstration of weightlessness in non-inertial, gravitationally accelerated systems consists of two parts. In the first part, students learn that a jet flows out of a plastic bottle with a lateral hole when it is at rest. In the second part, students observe that the jet stops to flow when the bottle is in free fall (Kruglak, 1963; Vogt y Wargo, 1992; Marshall, 2003; Feantonby, 20011) or in free rise (Corona et al., 2006). That demonstration is absent from high-school physics textbooks used in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The concept of weightlessness is not explicitly mentioned as a learning goal of the official curriculum (“intended curriculum”). It is considered in textbooks (“potentially implemented curriculum”). As in many American physics textbooks, the concept of weightless is introduced through the famous “thought experiment” with weighing a person in free-falling elevator, a situation that does not offer to students any possibility of sensorial and practical contact with the phenomenon: “If the lift were falling with acceleration ⃗ = ⃗, an observer in the lift would be in the weightlessness state, and all the objects would be floating in the lift, too. The bodies would behave as if the gravity were “switched-off”.” (Abasbegovic & Musemic, 2006) The phenomenon that water is in the state of weightlessness in free-falling system is mentioned in two of five primary school physics textbooks used in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1. “Weigh plastic cup on a scale, and then fill it with water and weigh again. What do you conclude? Water exerts weight on the scale pan. Pour water in the plastic cup up to half and the drill a hole at its bottom, water will leak through the hole! Then repeat all the same and let the cup to fall! In falling the water does not come out from the cup, because it doesn’t weight.” (Pačariz et al., 2011). 2. «Drill two small holes near the bottom of a paper cup, and then fill the glass with water. Water will flow out through the holes due its weight.

Repeat the experiment, in such a way that you drop the filled cup from a sufficiently big heigth. What do you observe now? While the cup falls, the water doesn't flow out. In the system that falls freely the water is in the state of weightlessness.» (Muratovic & Gabela, 2001) One can easily see that students were told what they should observe and were given a short explanation. They Page | 221 are not given any opportunity to explore, explain and verify causal structure of the phenomenon. This means that, in the case of weightlessness, the details of “potentially implemented curriculum” (physics textbooks) either do not express goals of “intended curriculum” or present them superficially. Although it is possible that teachers have better reading and implementation of the intended curriculum (implemented curriculum), many of them would likely follow closely the textbook approach in their teaching practice (Yager, 1992). Activity design with exploring weightless water in 5E instructional method is a little bit better, because students are not told what they should observe:

“Please open a hole near the middle of the side of the glass. Close the hole with your finger and fill glass with water. Lift up your glass and away your fingers from the hole. What did you observe? ______What happens do you think if you leave the glass? Estimate that water will flow faster or slower. Please write your estimate below. ______Keep the glass up and remove it from your hand. What did you observe? . ______Which conclusion did you get? Please write your comment below as discussing with your group friends.” (Tural, Akdeniz & Alev, 2010).

Nevertheless, students are not explicitly asked to explain the observation and to evaluate the feasibility of explanation through a testing experiment. Consequently, the authors do not report any information about students’ corresponding explanatory models.

Research questions and student sample

We wanted to know: (a) How many students in the last year of high school know something about free-fall weightlessness of water? (b) How they explain the fact that water does not flow out of a free-falling bottle? In other words, these questions should give initial answers about how students’ knowledge and understanding of weightlessness phenomena (“attained curriculum”) reflect a related specific detail of intended curriculum for primary-school physics: students should “describe and explain the state of weightlessness”.

Students’ worksheet is presented in the Appendix.

The pilot research was carried out with 100 students of a high school in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Students’ ages were between 18 and 19 years. All students agreed that their answers and drawings could be used anonymously in scientific papers and conference presentations.

The results

Out of 100 students, 35 students declared that they did know that phenomenon, while 24 students said that they did not know it. There were 41 students could not remember if they have seen that phenomenon. Regarding their explanations, we obtained the following results. A-few-word fake explanations are dominant. Some examples are “because of gravity”, “due to buoyant force” or “bottle is falling”. Among 35 students who knew the phenomenon, 4 students explained it as a consequence of “state of weightlessness” of water, while 8 students thought that water stops to flow out because it goes up and places itself above the hole. Very similar situation is with 41 students who are unable to remember if they saw that phenomenon. 6 of them relate the phenomenon with weightless water, but 8 students explain it as caused by water going above the hole.

Among 24 students who are sure that they don’t know the phenomenon, only one mentions that weightless water is unable to flow out of the bottle. Three of those students think that water stops to flow because it goes into the upper part of the bottle above the hole.

Drawings, made by students, show clearly that they constructed an alternative explanation of phenomenon weightless water (Figure 3). Page | 222

Figure 3. Different students’ drawings show clearly the same alternative explanation of the phenomenon of weightless water.

Conclusions

The bottle-and-water-jet demonstration of free-fall weightlessness is easy to perform in classroom or in schoolyard. Nevertheless, only 35 % of students think they know it and only 11 % of them connect surprising jet behaviour with the weightlessness of water, without giving reasons why that property of water makes that the stops flowing out of the bottle. More students (19 %) have an alternative explanation, unreported in research literature on students’ learning of weightlessness: in free fall, water goes up and places itself above the hole. This explanation shows that the students are prone to construct understanding of physical phenomena based on some kind of easy-to-imagine mechanism and mechanistic reasoning (Russ et al., 2008). Some students even give an argument why water should go up: water has bigger mass and falls more slowly than the plastic bottle. This justification shows that well-known students’ alternative conception “heavier bodies fall faster” (Halloun & Hestenes, 1985; Stavy & Tirosh, 1996; Bayraktar, 2009) may be “forgotten” in some contexts and an opposite one (“heavier bodies fall slower”) is used for constructing explanation of surprising phenomena. In another active-learning sequence on free-fall weightlessness, students used this opposite alternative conception to predict the behaviour of a balloon, placed in a bottle and deformed by a weight, when let to fall (Balukovic, Slisko & Corona, 2015). These results show that bottle-and-water-jet demonstration is suitable for designing inquiry-based learning of weightlessness phenomena. When students propose “water-above-hole” explanation of the absence of water jet in free-fall, they might be asked to design “testing experiments” to explore feasibility of that explanation. A previous, small-scale implementation of such a task gave promising results. Some students proposed the following “testing experiment”: The bottle should have two holes, one near the bottom (taped with finger) and one just above the water surface. If the explanation is correct, then in free-fall the water will not flow out from

the lower hole, but will flow from the upper one. Performing suggested testing experiment, students would learn that the water did not flow from the upper hole and conclude that the alternative explanation “water-above-hole” is not correct one.

Appendix The students’ worksheet had the following tasks: Page | 223 Why does the water stop to flow out from a freely-falling plastic bottle with a hole?

If someone holds in hand a plastic bottle with a hole filled up with water, a water jet flows out of the bottle. Nevertheless, if the bottle is left to fall freely, the water jet stops to flow out.

1. Is this phenomenon known to you from a previous physics course? (a) The phenomenon is know to me from the physics course ______(b) The phenomenon is not known to me. (c) I can't remeber.

2. Why does the water jet stop to flow out from the bottle that falls freely? ______

3. Draw the position of the water in the bottle when the jet does not flow out.

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Kruglak, H. (1962). Demonstrations of weightlessness. American Journal of Physics, 30(12), 929-930. Kruglak, H. (1963). Physical effects of apparent “weightlessness”. The Physics Teacher, 1(), 34-35. Marshall, R. (2003). Freefall and weightlessness. Physics Education, 38(2), 108-108. Mayorova, V. I., Samburov, S. N., Zhdanovich, O. V., & Strashinsky, V. A. (2014). Utilization of the International Space Station for education and popularization of space research. Acta Astronautica, 98, 147-154. Morgan, E., & Ansberry, K. (2012). Gravity and Weight. Science and Children, 49(5), 22 -24. Page | 224 Muratović, H. & Gabela, N. (2011). Fizika VIII: za osmi rared osnovne škole, Grafex, Mostar, p. 48 Lee, O., Hart, J. E., Cuevas, P., & Enders, C. (2004). Professional development in inquiry-based science for elementary teachers of diverse student groups. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(10), 1021-1043. Liu, O. L., Lee, H. S., & Linn, M. C. (2010). Multifaceted assessment of inquiry-based science learning. Educational Assessment, 15(2), 69-86. Okvirni nastavni plan i program za devetogodišnju osnovnu školu u Federciji Bosne i Hercegovine, p. 484 Pačariz, M., Hadžić, A., Adrović, M. & Udvinčić, N. (2011). 8 FIZIKA: udžbenik za 8. razred devetogodišnje osnovne škole, Vrijeme, Zenica, , p. 84 Russ, R. S., Scherr, R. E., Hammer, D., & Mikeska, J. (2008). Recognizing mechanistic reasoning in student scientific inquiry: A framework for discourse analysis developed from philosophy of science. Science Education, 92(3), 499-525. Smith, C. J. (1989). Weightlessness for large classes. The Physics Teacher, 27(1), 40-41. Stavy, R., & Tirosh, D. (1996). Intuitive rules in science and mathematics: the case of ‘more of A--more of B’. International Journal of Science Education, 18(6), 653-667. Taibu, R., Rudge, D., & Schuster, D. (2015). Textbook presentations of weight: Conceptual difficulties and language ambiguities. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 11(1), 010117-1-010117-20.

Tural , G., Akdeniz, A. R. & Alev, N. (2010). Effect of 5E Teaching Model on Student Teachers’ Understanding of Weightlessness. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 19(59), 470-488. Valverde, G. A., Bianchi, L. J., Wolfe, R. G., Schmidt, W. H., & Houang, R. T. (2002). According to the Book. Using TIMSS to investigate the translation of policity into practice through the world of textbooks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Vogt, G. L. y Wargo, M. J. (Editors) (1992). Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide with Activities, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC. Walker, J. S. (2007). Physics. Third Edition, Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, p. 126. White, R. & Gunstone, R. (1992). Probing Understanding. Routledge, London. Yager, R. E. (1992). Viewpoint: What we did not learn from the 60s about science curriculum reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(8), 905-910. Young, H. D. & Freedman, R. A. (2008). Sears and Zemansky’s University Physics. 12th Edition. Volume 1, Pearson/Addison Wesley, San Francisco, p. 145.

Affiliation and address information Jasmina Baluković Druga gimnazija Sarajevo Sutjeska 1 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina e-mail: [email protected]

Problems With Physics-Related Contexts in Mathematics Textbooks for Mexican Secondary School: Some Alarming Examples of Artificial Problem Contextualizations

Josip Sliško, Adrián Corona Cruz, Honorina Ruiz Estrada, Rosario Pastrana-Sánchez Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla,Puebla, Page | 225 México Abstract Problem-solving skills are among XXI-century competencies and they are cultivated in physics and mathematics education at all levels. Since long time ago, general ideas about problem solving steps (problem understanding, planning solution, finding solution, evaluating solution), proposed by Polya, were introduced to school mathematics and physics. Recently, in mathematics education, there is a tendency to treat problem solving as mathematical modelling. In both approach, the learning gains are better if the school problems are closer to authentic problems in real world. A school problem is authentic if its event, data and question(s) are realistic (happens or can happen in real world). Physics-related problems are popular in mathematics textbooks because they connect abstract mathematical models with real events and data, likely known to students. This paper presents some alarming examples of physics-related contexts in mathematics textbooks of Mexican secondary schools (grades VII, VIII and IX). They show that many Mexican textbook authors treat problem posing as free number and model game, with no relation to real events. The roots of such practice in mathematics education go back to some “recreational” problems of Fibonacci.

Keywords Physics contexts, mathematics education, textbook problems, authentic school problems, artificial problem contextualization. Introduction

To live and work successfully in a rapidly changing and uncertain world, people need a reformed, non-traditional education that provides them “21st century skills” (Jackson & Davis, 2000; OECD, 2004; Pellegrino & Hilton, 2013; Boyer & Crippen, 2014). There is an enormous diversity regarding definition and listing order of 21st century skills. Tim Wagner (2008) considers them, quite rightfully, as “surviving skills”. He includes among them: “Critical thinking and problem solving”; “Collaboration and Leadership”; “Effective Oral and Written Communication”; “Finding and Analysing Information” and “Curiosity and imagination”. While for Trilling and Fadel (2009) the basic learning skills are “Critical Thinking and Problem Solving”, “Communication and Collaboration” and “Creativity and Innovation”, Kaufman (2013) has a skill list consisting of “Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills”, “Communicative Skills”, “Information and Media Literacy Skills”, “Contextual Learning Skills,” and “Collaboration Skills” Prominent and very active organization Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.p21.org) is promoting a short list, known also as 4C, containing only four skills whose domains and descriptions are presented in the Table 1. Table 1. 4C of 21st century skills

Skills’ domains Description of skill-promoting learning activities

Critical thinking Looking at problems in a new way, linking learning across subjects and disciplines

Collaboration Working together to reach a goal – putting talent, expertise, and smarts to work

Communication Sharing thoughts, questions, ideas, and solutions

Creativity Trying new approaches to get things done equals innovation and invention

(www.p21.org/storage/documents/4csposter.pdf).

Development of students’ problem-solving skills, although was always one of the main goals of physics and mathematics teaching at all educational levels, today should be designed and implemented in such a way that

students are provided with multiple “4C learning opportunities”: critical and creative thinking, communication and collaboration. Evaluation of problem situation and solution is impossible without critical thinking skills. Planing different solution strategies is an excellent opportunity for practicing creative thinking. Writing and talking about own ideas about solving a problem foster communication skills. Active participation in group problem solving makes possible to learn and develop collaboration skills.

Page | 226 Problem solving and modelling in mathematics and physics education Polya has introduced a well-known four-step strategy for problem solving in mathematics education (Polya, 1973): Understand the problem. Make a solution plan. Carry out the plan. Look back. The first article on physics problem-solving steps, in prestigious American Journal of Physics, was authored by Reif, Larkin and Brackett (1976). They stated that these steps should be used to teach student how to solve physics problems. The actions the steps imply and the expected results are the following: (1) Description: List explicitly the given and desired information. Draw a diagram of the situation. (The result of this step should a clear formulation of the problem.) (2) Planning: Select the basic relations pertinent for solving the problem and outline how they are to be used. (The result of this step should a specific plan for finding the solution.) (3) Implementation: Execute the preceding plan by doing all necessary calculations. (The result of this step should be a solution of the problem.) (4) Checking: Check that of the preceding steps was valid and that the final answer makes sense. (The result of this step should be a trustworthy solution of the problem.) Regarding Polya’s approach, it is said: “These major steps are similar, although not identical in content, those suggested by G. Polya.” In a simplified psychological approach (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004), in problem-solving, it is useful to distinguish mental processes in comprehension and solution phase. Comprehension phase is related to activation of different knowledge sources (situational, verbal, symbolic, …) and its aim is to lead to Situation and Problem models. These models are base for solution phase that consists of application of corresponding solution strategies (unwind, equation solving, quess and test,..). Recently, there is a significant movement in mathematics education to promote explicitly mathematical modelling framework in teaching problem solving (Blum & Boromeo Ferri, 2009). Modelling framework permits students to comprehend better delicate relationship between real word features and their mathematical models. Cycle of mathematical modelling, with seven steps, is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Modelling cycle for mathematics word problems (as presented in Blum & Boromeo-Ferri, 2009).

In the first step “Understanding the task”, students should create “situation model”. In the second step, by simplifying and structuring “situation model”, a “real model” should be obtained. The third step consists of mathematizing “real model” to obtain “mathematical model” of the situation in question. By carrying out planned mathematical operations, in the fourth step, “mathematical result” appears.

In the fifth step, mathematical result is interpreted with the reference on real model in order to get “real result”. Page | 227 Evaluation of the “real result”, based on the features of “situation model”, is the sixth step, called “validation”. The last step “presenting” is related to bringing “validated result” to real situation.

David Hestenes made crucial contribution to “modelling approach“ to physics teaching and problem solving (Hestenes, 1987; Hestenes, 1992). For him “problem solving in physics is primarily a modelling process” (Hestenes, 1987). The four-stage modelling approach to problem solving consists of:

(1) Description; (2) Formulation; (3) Ramification; and (4) Validation.

The meanings of these stages are the following:

(I) In The Description Stage, the main output is a complete set of names and descriptive variables for the model, along with physical interpretations for all the variables.

(II) In The Formulation Stage of model development, the physical laws of motion and interaction are applied to determine definite equations of motion for the model object and any subsidiary equations of constraint.

(III) In The Ramification Stage, the special properties and implications of the model are worked out.

(IV) The Validation Stage is concerned with empirical evaluation of the ramified model. In a textbook problem this may amount to no more than assessing the reasonableness of numerical results. However, in scientific research it may involve an elaborate experimental test.

Although he does not offer explicitly a heuristics set, for the purpose of this article, it is very important to hear what Hestenes (1987) has to say about students’ “validation stage” when solving physics textbook problems:

“Students frequently fail to realize when the answer to a textbook problem is unreasonable and have no idea how the answer might be checked. I submit that a major reason for such failure is that the students are only vaguely aware of the model underlying their results. They do not realize that the complete solution to a problem is based on a model from which any numerical answers come as subsidiary results. It is the whole model which needs to be evaluated when a solution is checked. As long as students regard the solution as a mere number or formula, the only way they have to check it is by comparison with an answer key.” (emphasis added)

Techers can help students learn problem-solving and modelling steps showing them how to ask questions about the facts in the problem, question(s) asked in the problem and the solution found for the problem (LeBlanc, 1982).

For successful implementation of both frameworks, it is necessary to use “authentic school problems”. Palm proposed a useful taxonomy of characteristics of “authentic school problems” should have (Palm, 2006; Palm, 2009). In the first place, a school problem is “authentic” if (a) problem-related event or situation happens or could happen in the real world; (b) numerical data describing event or situation are real or, in principle, possible and (c) question asked in problem is reasonable. A problem is “artificially contextualized” if one or more of these characteristics is absent or violated.

When students solve authentic word problems in school mathematics, they are likely to apply “real life” considerations in the solution process and in evaluation of obtained solutions (Palm, 2008). If students’ solve non-authentic problems, they frequently use superificial solution strategies and develop unproductive beliefs about mathematical word problem solving. These strategies and belifes are main reasons for providing solutions that are inconsistent with the situations described in the word problems (Palm, 2008). Physics-related contexts for problems in mathematics textbooks One way to give students “authentic problems” for mathematics learning is formulate them in those contexts that are likely known to students. It can help that they change their beliefs about the value and importance of word problems (Hart, 1996). Nevertheless, it is worth to mention that the influence is greater for lower-ability students (Ku & Sullivan, 2000).

Depending on students’ ages and study programs, these contexts can be related to “hard sciences” (e.g. astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics,…), “soft sciences” (e.g. linguistics, sociology,…), “profesional life” (e.g. architecture, banking, engineering, medicine,…) and humanities (e.g. literature, music,…). For instance, in the Preface of their textbook on calculus, Sworowski, Olenick and Pence (1994) declare: “… Applied problems are drawn for a broad range of the natural and social sciences, engineering and technology. Application from physics, chemistry, biology, economics, physiology, sociology, psychology, ecology, Page | 228 oceanography, meteorology, radiotherapy, astronautics, and transportation are included.” (p. XIV) One example of a physics-related problem in that textbook is the following one: “A projectile is fired straight upward with a velocity of 400 ft/sec. From physics, its distance above the ground after t seconds is s(t)=-16t2+400t. (a) Find the time and velocity at which the projectile hits the ground. (b) Find the maximum altitude achieved by the projectile. (c) Find the acceleration at any time t.” (Sworowski, Olenick & Pense, 1994, Example 2, p. 320). Although one can raise some pedantic objections related to the use of unit and equation form because it differs from the use in physics textbooks, this problem can be still considered as an acceptable usage of physics contexts for showing applicability of mathematics in real world. Nevertheless, usage of invented and unreal “problem contexts” found in other mathematics textbooks created an inadequate image of “mathematics applications” in education (Pollak, 1968; Pollak, 1969; Pollak, 1978). Artificial contextualization is present in physics textbooks, too (Slisko, 1994). Korsunsky (2002) have proposed a checking strategy for mathematics textbook authors when they propose physics-related problems. The strategy is, very appropriately, called “SCAN strategy”. SCAN is an acronym standing for Self-contained; Concise; Accurate, Non-contradicting): “First, the problem should not require any outside physics knowledge beyond the most common-sense facts: it must be self-contained. Meanwhile, the problem should be concise: The explanations must not be so long as to turn a mathematics class into a physics class. If too many explanations within the text are needed to ensure self-containment, the context may overwhelm the mathematical ideas presented in the problem, thus diminishing its teaching value. Second, the problem must be accurate: It should not contain erroneous or confusing information, which may be evident to a student who has, in fact, studied physics. Often, a knowledgeable student may be confused and, hence, unfairly penalized because the problem statement or implications contradict the prior knowledge.

By the same token, the problem content should not contradict the physics knowledge that will be learned by the students in the near future. If it happens, it would then make the science class difficult to teach and impose a wrong impression that, in mathematics and science classes, things somehow work out differently – hardly making a case for the real-life problems.” (Korsunsky, 2002) Korsunsky considers that mathematics textbooks authors, who want to create the problems with a pedagogically sound real-life context, must know well both physics and mathematics. If their primary expertise is in mathematics, then they should not hesitate to consult with physics experts, who can help them “SCAN” the problems. Physics-related problems in Mexican mathematics textbooks for secondary school: an initial documentary research

In our initial documentary research we wanted to answer the question: Are there in Mexican mathematics textbooks for secondary school (grades VII, VIII and IX) physics-related problems that contain erroneous values of physics quantities and incorrect physical ideas? Our criterions for detecting such problems were influenced by the taxonomy of characteristics of authentic school problems, developed by Palm (2006, 2009) and SCAN Strategy, proposed by Korsunsky (2002).

In principle, mathematics textbooks in Mexico should be error-free, because they are revised, approved and even bought by the Ministry of Public Education. Nevertheless, they are full of different type of errors. Some of those errors should have been obvious for mathematical eyes of textbook authors and reviewers. All persons, having a little bit of real-world and physical knowledge, would be able to detect errors in some physics-related problems. Following the practice of Pollak (1968; 1969; 1978) and Korsunsky, the names of authors and publishing companies are not revealed. Page | 229 An example of erroneous “mathematical context” for a problem is given in Figure 2.

Figure 2. A mathematical context with a few obvious errors. Comments No triangle in real world can have the characteristics indicated in the drawing. The sum of 22 and 32 is equal to 13, not to 16. The sum of its angles is less than 1800. We have found that many physics-related problems in mathematics textbooks contain different type of errors. In what follows, only five of these problems will be presented and commented. A too fast runner “An athlete, good at running 400 meters dash, trains in the following way: Walks the first 100 meters Trots the next 200 meters Runs the last 100 meters until reaching his maximum speed at the end. Which of the following graphs describes his motion on the track?”

Figure 3. Three graphs for a fast runner.

Comments It is highly unlikely that an athlete trains in the way that differs so much of what she or he is supposed to do in a real race. In addition, real sprinters can’t run faster than 15 m/s. In physics it is unusual to use graphs velocity – position.

Launching an arrow “The height, reached by an arrow launched from an initial height of two meters above the ground, in funtion of time elapsed from the moment of launching, is expressed by the formula: -t2 + 3t + 2. After what time will the arrow fall on the ground?” Comments Strictly speaking, the formula for height in function of time should be written: h = -t2 + 3t + 2. As the coefficient of the term t2 has the meaning “half of the free-fall acceleration”, the environment in which the arrow Page | 230 is launched is not a common one with g = 9.8 m/s2, but invented one with g = 2 m/s2! An experiment with a missile “In an experiment with a missile, one has that its velocity regarding the time is expressed by the function: v = 60t – 2t2, where the velocity is given in m/s and the time in seconds. Parting from the expression that represents the velocity in function of time, in your notebook make a graph of the trajectory followed by the missile. What is the maximum velocity gained by the missile and in what time is gained? When does the missile gain the velocity of 250 m/s, 400 m/s and 450 m/s. How much time does the flight of missile last?”

Comments The formula for velocity of a missile launched upward is v (t) = v0 – gt. Therefore, the given formula is not for the velocity of the missile but for the height it gains after t seconds. As in the case of the launched arrow, an invented value of free-fall acceleration is 4 m/s2. The ignorance of the authors is not restricted to the description of the situation. It is further revealed in the students’ tasks. If the function h = 60t – 2t2 is graphed in the abstract plane height-time, the resulting parabola would not be “the trajectory followed by the missile”. As the coefficient with the term t is initial velocity, then the maximum upward velocity of the missile is 60 m/s and the missile has it at t = 0. The missile would have the velocity of – 60 m/s, touching the ground again (moving downward) after 30 seconds. It means that the missile can never have velocities of 250 m/s, 400 m/s and 450 m/s. In the imaginary enviroment with g = 4 m/s2, the heights that the missile reaches might be 250 m, 400 m and 450 m. The last one would be the maximum height reached after 15 seconds. Heating a piece of ice “In a laboratory a piece of ice was heated during 6 minutes and its temperature was measured. The result of the measurements is presented on the graph (Figure 4).

Figure 4. A temperature-time graph corresponding to ice heating. Comments Students are asked a few “mathematical” questions, leaving physics of the event out of their focus. The graph implies that the specific heat capacity of ice is two times bigger than the specific capacity of water. In fact, it is two times smaller. If a certain quantity of water needs 1 minute of constant heating to increase its temperature from 0 0C to 10 0C, it would need 8 minutes of the same constant heating to pass from solid state (ice) to liquid state (water). According the graph, the phase change was accomplished in three minutes. Before we present the fifth example of artificial, physics-related contextualizations of mathematics problems, it is useful to inform the readers about a situation that is frequently used for teaching science in primary school (Cole, 2009) or for experimentation children can do at home (Mills, 2010). Here comes a typical activity:

“Floating or sinking oranges 1. Fill a container with water. 2. Put a whole orange into it. 3. Observe is the orange sinks or float. 4. Peel the skin off the orange and put it back into the water. Observe what happens: Page | 231 Why did the orange sink/float with and without its skin?” (Cole, 2009, p. 42) The outcome of the activity is quite surprising for students. A normal orange floats, but peeled one sinks (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Complete orange floats in water but peeled one sinks. Such a surprise is considered as a good starting point to engage students in inquiry-based science learning (Abrams, Southerland & Silva, 2008; Koch, 2013; Smith & Dawes, 2014; de Silva, 2015). Nevertheless, it is even a bigger surprise to find out that some Mexican mathematics textbook authors knew very little about oranges and proposed the next problem. An orange in an aquarium “In the laboratory of natural sciences, José and his team carried out an experiment in a cubic aquarium. They filled it with water up to the line shown in the drawing (Figure 6) and later they inserted an orange. By doing it, they observed that the volume of water came up to the brim of the aquarium.

Figure 6. A complete orange sinks in a aquarium.

What is the volume of the orange?”

Comments According to problem data (text drawing), the initial volume of the water is 22,500 cm3 (30 cm x 30 cm x 25 cm) and the volume of water with sunken orange is 27,000 cm3 (30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm). This means that volume of the orange is 4,500 cm3 or 4,5 liters! If the orange were spherical, its diameter would be 20.5 centimeters! Conclusions

The results of our documental research show that (1) physics-related contexts are frequently used in Mexican mathematics textbooks for secondary school and (2) many of physics-related problems contain various errors regarding values of physical quantities or “laws” that govern involved physical phenomena. As commented

examples clearly show, relevant physics knowledge of textbook authors is insufficient. This fact leads to phenomenon of questionable authenticity of proposed problems that is an obstacle for students learning and might cause unproductive beliefs about mathematics and problem solving (Slisko, 2014). The presence of artificial contextualizations of physics-related problems is alarming, because all these mathematics textbooks (as the textbooks of other school subjects) HAD to be positively evaluated in a review process by experts, selected and hired by Mexican Ministry of Public Education (Secretaría de Educación Page | 232 Pública). Obviously, both authors and expert reviewers reveal an absence of critical thinking about data and results that should be integral part of problem solving and mathematical modelling. One possible reason for such a situation might have deep historic roots. Namely, there is in mathematics teaching a long tradition to formulate problems for the events and situations that are hardly possible or even obviously impossible in real world. Many examples of such type of problems can be found in the famous book “Liber Abaci” written by Fibonacci in early XIII century. One of theme is about a lion escaping from a pit. “On the lion who was in a pit A certain lion is in a certain pit, the depth of which is 50 palms and he ascends daily 1/7 of a palm, and descends 1/9. It is sought in how many days will he leave the pit.” (Fibonacci, 2003) Fibonacci’s answer of 1575 days is wrong. The correct one is 1572 days. A “light” approach to problem formulation might be acceptable in the case of fictional mathematical puzzles, when students are focused on stated mathematical properties and are not expected to take the puzzle context too literally. Negative effects happen when physics-related problems are artificially contextualized or, in other words, when authors use mathematical models and numerical data that do not fit real-world physical phenomena. In that case, students’ real-world knowledge and common sense might lead them to conclude that mathematics problems are senseless and useless for their lives and future professional work. A possible remedy is to ask students to detect errors in defective physics-related mathematical problems, applying existing personal knowledge and experiences or knowledge that can be found on the Internet. A few pilot investigations have shown that some students are able to evaluate critically supposed event, data, question and solution, especially when the solution is given to them. Acknowledgement These problems, along with others, were collected within the research project “The use of physics contexts in mathematics education: the defects and the didactic remedies”, funded in 2015 by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Estudios de Posgrado of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. References Abrams, E., Southerland, S. A. & Silva, P. (2008). Inquiry in the Classroom. Realities and Opportunities. Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC. (Vignette, pp. 4-5) Blum, W. & Boromeo Ferri, R. (2009). Mathematical modelling: Can it be taught and learnt?. Journal of mathematical modelling and application, 1(1), 45-58. Boyer, W. & Crippen, C. L. (2014). Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century: An Education Plan for the New Millennium Developed in British Columbia, Canada. Childhood Education, 90(5), 343-353. Cole, M. (2009). Explore Science. An interactive journey through the world of science. Second edition, Pearson Education South Asia, Singapore, p. 42 de Silva, E. (2015). Cases on Research-Based Teaching Methods in Science Education. Information Science Reference, Hershey, PA, p. 164 Hart, J. M. (1996).The Effect of Personalized Word Problems. Teaching Children Mathematics, 2(8), 504-505. Hestenes, D. (1987). Toward a modeling theory of physics instruction. American Journal of Physics, 55(5), 440-454. Hestenes, D. (1992). Modeling games in the Newtonian world. American Journal of Physics, 60(8), 732-748. Jackson, A. W. & Davis, G. A. (2000). Turning points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st century. Teachers College PressNew York. Kaufman, K. J. (2013). 21 Ways to 21st Century Skills: Why Students Need Them and Ideas for Practical Implementation. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 49(2), 78-83. Koch, J. (2013) Science Stories: Science Methods for Elementary and Middle School Teachers. Fifth edition. Wadsforth,

Belmont, CA. “Floating and sinking fruits”, pp. 178 – 181. Koedinger, K. R. & Nathan, M. J. (2004). The Real Story behind Story Problems: Effects of Representations on Quantitative Reasoning. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(2), 129-164. Korsunsky, B. (2002). Improper Use of Physics-Related Context in High School Mathematics Problems: Implications for Learning and Teaching. School Science and Mathematics, 102(3), 107-113. Page | 233 Ku, H.Y. & Sullivan, H. J. (2000). Personalization of Mathematics Word Problems in Taiwan. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 49-59. LeBlanc, J. F. (1982). Teaching Textbook Story Problems. The Arithmetic Teacher, 29(6), 52-54. Mills, J. E. (2010) The Everything Kids' Easy Science Experiments Book: Explore the world of science through quick and fun experiments! Adams Media, Avon, MA, p. 59 OECD (2004). Innovation in the knowledge economy: Implications for education and learning. OECD Publishing, Paris. Palm, T. (2006). Word problems as simulations of real-world situations: A proposed framework. For the learning of mathematics, 26(1), 42-47. Palm, T. (2009). Theory of authentic task situations. In B. Greer, L. Verschaffel, W. Van Dooren, & S. Mukhopadhyay (editors.), Word and worlds: Modelling verbal descriptions of situations. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Palm, T. (2008). Impact of Authenticity on Sense Making in Word Problem Solving. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 67(1), 37-58. Pellegrino, J. W. & Hilton, M. L. (Eds.). (2013). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. National Academies Press. Pollak, H. O. (1968). On some of the problems of teaching applications of mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 1(1), 24-30. Pollak, H. O. (1969). How can we teach applications of mathematics?. Educational studies in mathematics, 2(2), 393-404. Pollak, H. O. (1978). On mathematics application and real problem solving. School Science & Mathematics, 78(3), 232-239. Polya, G. (1973). How to solve it. A new aspect of mathematical method. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford. Reif, F., Larkin, J. H. & Brackett, G. C. (1976). Teaching general learning and problem-solving skills. American Journal of Physics, 44(3), 212-217. Slisko, J. (2014). The Eiffel Tower as a context for word problems in textbooks for school mathematics and physics: Why authors have a licentia poetica and what are possible consequences for students’ learning and beliefs. In Jones, K., Bokhove, C., Howson, G., & Fan, L. (editors) (2014). Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics Textbook Research and Development (ICMT-2014). University of Southampton, Southampton (pp. 433 - 438). Smith, P. & Dawes, L. (editors) (2014). Subject Teaching in Primary Education. SAGE, Los Angeles, p. 249 Sworowsky, E. W., Olenick, M. & Pence, D. (1994). Calculus. Sixth edition. PWS Publishing Company, Boston. Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our time. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Wagner, T. (2008). Rigor redefined. Educational Leadership, 66(2), 20 – 25.

Affiliation and address information Josip Slisko Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Avenida San Claudio y 18 Sur Colonia San Manuel CP 72570 Puebla, México [email protected]

A Sequence to Teach Quantum Mechanics in High School

Sergej Faletič Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract Page | 234 In this paper a sequence for teaching the basics of quantum mechanics to a target audience of pre-university students, roughly between 16 and 18 years of age (most commonly the last years of high school) is introduced. In this particular approach the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics basing on wave mechanics is suggested. Particle properties are introduced via quantization of energy transfer in an attempt to minimize the cognitive conflict. With this approach we discuss the photoelectric effect, single particle interference, electron orbitals and the uncertainty principle. The approach has been attempted on a limited sample of students aged 16 and 17. The results of a short evaluation conducted on the sample via cognitive maps are presented. They show that there are meaningful linkages between various topics discussed. A more detailed study will be performed in the future.

Keywords Quantum mechanics, high school teaching, wave-matter approach.

Introduction

All teachers and students of introductory quantum mechanics are aware of the cognitive conflicts that students experience when first learning the topic (Wuttiprom at. al., 2009, Zhu and Singh, 2012, Didiş te. al., 2014). While some are necessary due to the fact that quantum mechanics is indeed different from classical mechanics, some may be avoided with a suitable approach (Deslauriers and Wieman, 2011). My work in this direction started some years ago, when a colleague at my faculty introduced me to his way of teaching quantum mechanics. He approached the subject basically by first addressing the topics that are inherent to all waves. With this approach he showed that the uncertainty principle, for example, arises even in classical waves via the Fourier transform. This, and the more pressure in the last decade to focus on concepts rather than mathematics when teaching physics, prompted me to search for a way to develop physical intuition in the topic of quantum mechanics through a good understanding of the fundamental concepts. The author believes, he has finally found a viable sequence that focuses on concepts and can be though in high school. While it is still a work in progress, being improved every year, we can present the general path and the emphases made along it. The approach could be broadly categorized as a matter-wave approach, as classified by Baily and Finkelstein (2015), which in their study showed benefits over other approaches studied therein. We have observed that many cognitive conflicts between quantum and classical physics in traditional approaches arise from the difference between particle and wave mechanics. Our reason for using a matter-wave approach is to remove these conflicts and retain only those which arise from purely quantum phenomena, such as quantization.

The required knowledge, learning goals, and the concepts we focus on

Since the approach base heavily on waves, some topics of wave mechanics have to be discussed first. These are a part of high school curriculum in Slovenia, and if the sequence is presented in the last or last but one year of high school, all of them should have already been discussed. Otherwise we suggest a sequence of additional 3 hours prepared to discuss these topics. These topics are:  Wave mechanics, including standing waves, wave energy, resonance, superposition, interference, diffraction.  Light is an electromagnetic wave, spectrum of electromagnetic waves.  Structure of the atom. Students have to know that the atom contains electrons, and that they are negatively charged and attracted by the positive nucleus. It also helps, if they know about shells and orbitals, as we can return to them when introducing energy levels of bound electrons. This topics they usually learn in chemistry before physics. As we wanted to focus our approach on concepts, the following concepts have been made central to the discussion:  We use the term quantum entity to avoid using either 'particle' or 'wave'.  Quantization. Energy transfer is made in packages. Energy cannot be transferred gradually, but instead a quantum must be transferred at once.  Probabilistic/indeterministic nature. If an entity has multiple possibilities where to interact, it has to realize one of them. We take care not to say 'choose'.

 Interaction. We focus on the fact that getting any information about the state of the entity involves interaction with it. Therefore, we talk about where the entity can interact as opposed to where it can be found. This fits better to what they know about waves. Waves are always present, but we can discuss where and how they can interact with other objects. At the end of the sequence, students should be able to:  Identify the double slit experiment with electrons as a key experiment that requires from us the description Page | 235 of quantum entities with waves (wave-functions).  Explain the photoelectric effect with quantization of energy transfer.  Interpret particle-like interaction as a quantized energy transfer between a wave and a detector, and predict the outcome of a single particle interference experiment.  Interpret the wave-function as related to probability and predict the distribution of point-like interactions for the first few quantum entities with a given wave-function.  Explain orbitals as energy levels of a bound electron using an analogy with stationary states of classical waves.  Identify tunnelling and penetration into the walls of a finite potential well as purely classical features of wave mechanics.  Produce an example of the uncertainty principle and explain that it arises from the superposition of waves. This is an ideal outcome. In the year 2014/15, described here, these goals were not so clearly identified. The focus was more on the concepts described above. That year, this was a pilot course and we had limited opportunity both to assess learning outcomes and introduce activities. The evaluation process was basic and aimed to gauge their retention and fundamental linkages. No grade was given for this topic. With the experience gained, the course in 2015/16 included many more activities for students, and much more formative assessment, since it was demonstrated (e.g. Deslauriers and Wieman, 2011) that these kind of modifications produce better learning and retention of concepts. The topic was also included in their final grade.

The sequence

Now the sequence as it was used by me in the year 2014/15 will be introduced. I will comment on the changes introduced the next year, and report on those results we have already achieved. The sequence is planned for about six sessions of 45 minutes. It assumes a short recap and formative assessment at the beginning of each session. Having more time, some topics could be extended over more sessions. Typically there are two topics discussed within one session, due to time restraints and to the fact that I want to use the just acquired knowledge while it is still fresh in their minds. Two topics per lesson are quite a requirement, but if they are followed in a logical fashion, it seems to be not too much for students. The teaching methods used are a combination of active learning and lecturing. I rely mainly on the construction of knowledge via experience. Relying on students’ experience with waves I make the transition to quantum entities. Due to the very new concepts introduced, some traditional lecturing is necessary. How much is absolutely necessary is being investigated.

First lesson: Quanta Photoelectric effect. We use a zinc plate on an analogue electroscope. If conditions are favourable, the zinc plate remains charged for a long time. As an observational experiment we shine ultraviolet light from a mercury lamp on the plate and students observe the change of charge. They produce hypotheses that either light is positively charged, or light ejects electrons. With a testing experiment of electron beam and light beam in a magnetic field, we take the ejection hypothesis as the more plausible. Students realize that for the ejection we need energy, which comes from light. From their previous knowledge that light is a wave and wave energy is proportional to wave frequency and amplitude, we construct a table of expected results. For light of lesser intensity or lesser frequency, we expect a smaller effect. The experiment shows that a white light of a third of the frequency, and 10 times the power of the ultraviolet light cannot eject electrons, but the mercury lamp located further from the plate ejects less electrons. Students thus come to the conclusion that only frequency determines whether an electron is ejected or not. After that, intensity (amplitude) determines how many are ejected. A quantum entity is introduced as a wave of the same form as the initial (macroscopic) wave, only with a fixed (very small) amplitude (this mimics the normalization of a wave-function). I call this wave a wavey (small wave). This leaves its energy dependent only on its frequency. I call the energy of a wavey a quantum, and a wavey of light a photon. Then the relation E=hν is written and Planck's constant introduced. It is useful for them to see that a quantum is such a small energy, that we could not possibly detect it on a macroscopic scale. That is

why we do not see quantum phenomena in everyday life. After this prompt, students realize that we can reconstruct the original wave with arbitrary amplitude by superimposing more waveys. In this way the connection between the number of photons and light intensity is established. The introduction of waveys is not enough to explain, why the ejection depends only on frequency. More waveys could interact with the same electron and provide enough energy. We have to introduce another rule: one wavey can interact with only one electron. This is called the one-on-one principle, but I add that there are few cases Page | 236 where more than two quantum entities can interact, but they are special cases. Energy is quantized, transferred in packages. One photon contains one package and transfers it either entirely or not at all. This way of introducing quanta might be seen as oversimplified by experts. However, I will show in this article its worth through the benefits that it brings. It also does not stand very far from the correct concepts of wave-function normalization, and energy exchange. I will go on discussing that these new principles explain our observations regarding the photoelectric effect. Although I want to avoid comparing quantum entities to particles, I have found it useful to produce one classical particle analogy. A wrecking ball vs. a bunch of table-tennis balls to bring down a wall. Later I will link energy transfer to resonance and this will become unnecessary.

Second lesson: Probability After I have introduced our new rules, it is time to put them to the test in an already familiar setting. We take the interference pattern. Students are quickly able to reproduce the formation of fringes. Then I ask what would happen, if we sent only one photon to the two slits. Since the photon was introduced as a wavey, they quickly realize the pattern will be the same. Then I remind them that matter is made of atoms and fringes are recorded via a process very similar to the photoelectric effect: light does something to the electrons in the atom. So I ask them, since we have an interference pattern which spans across lots and lots of atoms, and a one-on-one rule, where will the one photon interact. I remind them that lots of photons will make the pattern, but where will the first photon interact? Each time when this was posed as a question to the whole class there was at least one student who correctly identified the intensity pattern to represent probability. In the year 2015/16 I made this activity, so I could have a better view of how many students identified the relation. The task was to write down where the first 20 photons would interact. In a class of 20, there were four answers showing the correct interpretation. I believe to get more by preparing the activity better. After that we have a discussion which relates the intensity pattern to the probability for one photon.

Third lesson: Description of electrons At the beginning I show the experiment with a helium-neon laser beam passing through a small hole. The interference pattern that forms is a central bright spot and a ring around it. There are more rings, but are usually poorly visible. By now students know that light is a wave, and that light forms interference patterns, so we assume the observed pattern is inherent to waves. Then I introduce the cathode ray tube. The scattering of electrons on a crystal is used, and the students are told that it is like passing through a hole. The prediction is made that when particles travel through a tiny hole they should form only a small bright spot on the screen. We power up the tube and observe the pattern on the screen which is very similar to what we observed with the laser. The students are encouraged to propose the model themselves. They are intentionally not told that electrons are waves, just the description must be wave-like. From a discussion it results that apparently, to get correct predictions, we must describe electrons as waves Next we consider the implications of this. We start with a bound electron. I show an acrylic glass with a strong magnet underneath, and an iron ball above it. The ball is bound by the magnetic field. This serves to build on their likely previous impression on how the electron is bound to the atom. Now they are asked how do we model the simplest possible wave system that does not allow the wave to pass through its boundaries. They quickly realize that the simplest model would be a string fixed at both ends. Then I ask how a wave behaves in such conditions and they remember standing waves. So we proceed with the frequencies of standing waves, which are discrete and with this we arrive to discrete energy levels of electrons in the atom. We relate this to what they know about orbitals. Then they are shown the animations of bound states of 2D circular membrane and discuss its relation to electron orbitals. The quantum dispersion relation λ2 = h/(2mν) is then introduced. We can now just qualitatively see that the first levels of the hydrogen atom approximately follow this rule. Fourth lesson: Energy transfer and potential We have learned that quantum entities must be described by waves. Therefore we should gain some experience with wave mechanics. In this session the class is introduced into two phenomena from wave mechanics: resonance of an extensive medium (e.g. a string) and 'potential'. An oscillator, which is weakly coupled to a string, can induce a natural mode of the string, if their frequencies match. The phenomenon is equivalent to

beating of coupled oscillators (Faletič, 2014). Just like with coupled oscillators, if the frequencies are not matched, the energy transfer is incomplete. Adding quantization (all-or-none rule) to this phenomenon, if all energy cannot be transferred, none is. This explains the absorption spectrum of gases. Only photons whose energy match the electron transitions in an atom can be absorbed.

It is also shown that the energy transfer takes less time, if the coupling is made at a position where the oscillation amplitude is large. Where it is small it takes more time. For our setup, the time for half a beat at the centre of the Page | 237 antinode was 65 ± 2 s and at about one third between the node and the centre of the antinode, it was about 82 ± 3 s. A measurable and observable difference. Students see that there is more energy transferred per unit time at the antinode than at its outskirts. We tie this to the already observed fact, that the probability of a photon to interact is proportional to the amplitude of the wave-function. Where the oscillation is stronger, more energy is transferred per unit time, meaning more photons interact, therefore the probability for one photon to interact there is larger. To introduce potential we compare a ball in a bowl with a wave. We consider energy. Students quickly realize that kinetic energy of the ball must be transformed to potential energy between the ball and Earth. If they learned about energy properly, they should know that kinetic energy is assigned to the ball alone, while potential energy is due to the interaction between the ball and some external object. This is crucial to discuss what would be a potential for a wave. Students should know that a waving medium has both kinetic and elastic energy. Both are assigned to the medium alone. Drawing from the ball example, a potential should be an external interaction that would force the medium to transfer some of its energy to this external interaction. It is important to note that it is not the medium that should be restricted, only the disturbance that forms on it. The stronger the potential, the more the disturbance is restricted. As if we suddenly added some force that tied the parts of the medium to their rest position. Just like with the ball, this can be achieved by forcing the parts of the wave to gain height as they move away from their rest position. Conveniently, our 'string' composed from strongly coupled pendula, with reduced length of a pendulum (at the top, so that the beads of all pendula are still aligned) accomplishes that. Such a string is described by the Klein-Gordon equation, which contains a term similar to the potential term in Schröedinger equation, but retains the classical second derivative in time (see Faletič, 2014, and Faletič, 2015 for details). I ask the students, what would make the potential stronger (make the beads of the pendula rise higher). They realize it would have to be shorter pendula. We thus shorten the strings of the pendula at one end of the medium and observe the result. We see that if the potential is strong enough, the wave penetrates it with an exponentially vanishing tail. I ask the students what would I have to do to prevent the wave from entering the potential at all. They realize I would have to have infinite potential (fix that part of the string, make length of pendula zero). I further ask them what would I have to do to make the wave penetrate the potential in the form of a wave, rather than an exponential tail. They suggest I should probably provide more energy. Here, very remarkably, providing greater amplitude does not work. Only with higher frequency we can achieve a sinusoidal waveform inside the potential. We see that inside the potential it has a longer wavelength. This will be important later. So we see that we have three regimes: one where the wave changes wavelength, second where we have an exponential tail, and the third one where the wave does not enter the potential, but only if it is infinite. Then I show a narrow potential barrier and we can see that even if there is a vanishing tail in the barrier, if the barrier is narrow enough, some wave energy will come through and we have a wave with very small amplitude on the other side. This is the essence of tunnelling. For this I use videos prepared in advance, as changing the length of the pendula takes a lot of time. In the future, I will likely prepare an apparatus just for this demonstration, or even apparatuses with which students can investigate these phenomena on their own.

Fifth lesson: The wave-function Before introducing the wave-function I need to show the students that waves can carry momentum. I do this with a simple experiment: a rod fastened to the desk is touching a ball on one end. On the other end it is hit by another ball and the momentum is transferred to the first ball which shoots away from the rod. Now we try to figure out which property of the wave-function relates to momentum. We remember potential. Inside the potential, we would expect a classical particle to have less kinetic energy and less momentum. A wave inside the potential has the same frequency, because that relates to total energy, but it has longer wavelength. I then tell them that wavelength and momentum are indeed inversely proportional p = h/λ. Now it is time to introduce the proper description of a quantum entity. I introduce the description of a free entity by a plane wave. The students are told that the correct description involves two waves, one we denote R and the

other I. I do not call them real and imaginary. I just tell them that they are independent, one lags behind the other by 1/4 of a period, and that we can calculate the probability for the interaction of an entity at a specific position by P = R2 + I2. This is very similar to how both displacement and velocity contribute to the energy of the wave. They, too, have 1/4 of a period of phase difference. The total probability must be equal to one and that determines the actual amplitudes of R and I (what we earlier called fixed amplitude). I tell them we will only use relative amplitudes. I want to avoid the normalization process to save time. Page | 238 I tell them that the wave-function describes the state of the system in terms of position. We denote the state as |ψ> and we will soon see how it relates to the wave-function. Then they are told that we treat any property a quantum entity might have as a state. We do not say that a particle is at position x, instead we say that it is in a state |x>. The new notation is confusing for many, so I found it useful to compare it to a vector. We use an arrow above the symbol to denote that a vector is more than just a number. It has direction, too. Likewise a wave- function is more than just a number. It is a bunch of information, so we use the |...> symbol to denote this. We proceed with an example that clarifies the usage. We know how a wave looks like, so it suffices to write the frequency to know the wave. Let us say we have an entity described by a wave-function with frequency 0.25 Hz. What is the probability to measure the frequency 0.25 Hz. It is 1. We write this as |ψ> = 1|0.25 Hz>ν. The index denotes the quantity, and the value denotes the value of this quantity. The coefficient denotes the probability (not directly). We can write the same state in terms of different variables. For easier calculations let us give our fictitious entity a mass such that h/(2m)=1 cm s. We can then calculate both, its energy and its wavelength. We

get E = h0.25 Hz and λ = 2 cm. We can then write |ψ> = 1|0.25 Hz>ν = 1|2 cm>λ = 1| h0.25 Hz >E. We cannot do this with time, because there is no |...>t. But we can do it with position. This is a little trickier. So I ask them to draw the appropriate wave-function. Only the R part (we use a cosine). I then ask them: based on this wave- function, what is the probability that the entity will interact at position 2 cm? It is a maximum, so we write |ψ> = 1|2 cm>x. But there are other possibilities. Where else is the probability the same? So we write |ψ>R = 1|2 cm>x – 1|3 cm>x + 1|4 cm>x + … . Then, following the amplitude of the wave-function, we write for 1/2 other positions |ψ> = … + 2 /2|0.25 cm>x and so on. We can also add + 0|0.5 cm>x and so on. It adds nothing, but it is descriptive. We do a couple of those for the I part, too. This is how a state is described by a wave- function. It is important to point out that a particle can be in different states at the same time, but when it interacts it will realize only one of these states and not necessarily the most probable. From this activity we see that sometimes it is more convenient to describe the wave-function in terms of frequency, and sometimes in terms of position. It is still the same wave-function. And we can easily convert between the representations. Then we calculate the probability at three points and see that it remains the same. So such a particle can be detected at any position. PhET simulations (see reference PhET) provide a very useful way of visualizing these features. We can see the behaviour of bound wave-functions and superpositions of states. We can see nonstationary states and discuss the 'movement' of a quantum entity.

Sixth lesson: Uncertainty We have seen that a free particle can interact at any position throughout space. We are not used to talking about infinite particles, so how can we make the wave more localized? We use PhET simulation Fourier - making waves (see reference PhET). We produce a wave and then add another wave to it. In the year 2014/15 this was done by me with the participation of the class. In the year 2015/16 this was an activity for students. The challenge was to make a wave which is localized and does not span through the entire universe. Then we discussed what they needed to do to achieve this and how it relates to the properties of a quantum entity. We did this in the position/wavelength view and remember that wavelength relates to momentum. After this activity we realized that to make the position of an entity more defined, we need to use more momentum states, making its momentum less certain. We called this the uncertainty principle and I told them that it holds for certain pairs of quantities. We observed it for position and wavelength, for energy and time, and for a couple of other quantities that would not be discussed by us. We also related this to the phenomenon of diffraction. Since we have already played with the simulation, we take the time to show that the state with two frequencies/energies with a certain arithmetic mean, is not equal to the state with only one frequency/energy equal to this arithmetic mean. While the expected value of energy of both entities is the same, it is never realized by the one (it realizes either the higher or the lower one), but is always realized by the other one. Their wave- functions are visibly different.

Evaluation and discussion

I have performed an evaluation in the form of concept maps, in a similar way as used by Hilger et. al. (2012). Unfortunately, students were not asked to draw a concept map before instruction, but only about three weeks after instruction. The evaluation was done in a class of about 20 students. 16 concept maps were received back. Unfortunately, Slovenian students are not accustomed to concept maps so linking phrases were often omitted. Page | 239 All that could be identified from the concept maps were the terms used and linkages between the terms, which are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The linkages students made between terms in their concept maps.

waves 3

wave-funct. 0 5

probability 1 0 10

quantizat. 0 1 0 0

standing w. 0 9 2 0 0

energy 0 8 0 0 0 1

energy lev. 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

spectrum 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0

uncert. pr. 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

photoel. eff. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0

light 0 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 0 0

resonance 0 8 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0

electron 0 3 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 4 0

photon 1 3 1 5 11 0 5 0 7 0 0 10 0 1

superpos. 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

funct. -

fund.part. waves wave probability quantizat. standing w. energy energy lev. spectrum uncert. pr. photoel. eff. light resonance electron photon

In Table 1 there is no reference to the potential, because in this group that lesson was skipped. There are also many linkages for waves, due to the fact that this group had the three pre-lessons about waves, as the waves have not yet been discussed at school. Some terms have been excluded from this figure to make it clearer. These terms mainly related purely to waves and had no or very few linkages to quantum mechanics. Based on the learning goals, I would be satisfied to see strong linkages between wave-function and interference, photoelectric effect and quantization, wave-function and probability, orbitals or energy levels and standing waves or quantization and standing waves, and wave-function and uncertainty or waves and uncertainty. Out of these, interference had so few linkages to quantum mechanics that it was not even included in Table 1. There are no linkages between the photoelectric effect and quantization. There are 10 linkages between wave-function and probability, which is very satisfying. There is only one linkage that would suggest a relation between standing waves and energy levels of an electron. There are 3 linkages between uncertainty and wave-function. The results could be better, but I believe that the evaluation design can be partly blamed for this. The evaluation tool, concept maps, was probably new to all students. Moreover, there was no formative assessment, no summative assessment, very few activities for students, and the concept map was drawn three weeks after the course has ended. I am still satisfied with the linkages between wave-functions and probability, and with about three linkages between waves and photons, waves and electrons, fundamental particles and waves, and uncertainty principle and wave-function. These are all relations that I wanted to build. In the year 2015/16 formative and summative assessment was introduced, and there were more activities for students. The evaluation process consisted of scoring students' answers on formative and summative assessment from which the level of understanding could be inferred. We have preliminary results on two more specific questions used in the summative assessment: (i) ''What experiment led us to believe that we should describe electrons with waves?'' And in (ii) they had to predict the point of interaction of the first 20 electrons in a sequence of identical electrons, based on their wave-function, which was drawn. The wave-function had one positive and one negative peak which had different amplitudes. On question (i) 9 out of 21 students were able to produce the proof why electrons have to be described as waves. On question (ii) 10 out of 21 students correctly drew the distribution of electrons for the positive peak, but completely neglected the negative one, while 2 gave a completely correct answer. These results are remarkably better than those in the year 2014/15. This leads me to believe that with further improvement of the course there is still room for even better results.

Overall, these are the conclusions that I feel comfortable drawing from the preliminary results of the evaluations of both years: (a) High school students are able to follow this sequence and show some understanding and retention at the end. (b) Formative assessment during the course or summative assessment after the course improve the outcome. (c) Students need more time and training on some of the topics than is now planned in the course. It might turn out that the time limitation is too restrictive and some topics have to be either skipped or more time should be found, but I believe that with further refinement, the course could produce better results even within the time limitation. In the future I hope to refine the assessment tools to make them comparable from Page | 240 year to year. Then it will be possible to approximately gauge the effects of any modifications made to the course. The school in which the course was tested is not a specifically science-oriented school. This may mean that perhaps in a science-oriented school, results could be better. Therefore, despite the relatively small sample, the results are believed to show a valid approximation of what can be expected in any general high school at least in Slovenia. A much attention is paid by me to language, since it has been shown (Brookes and Etkina, 2007) that the use of language is very important in quantum mechanics. Especially, using certain phrases that have a clear meaning for an expert, can produce visualizations which are inconsistent with quantum mechanics for novices. One of these is the potential well, that is why I spend more time clarifying the meaning of potential in the context of waves. Perhaps the most challenging terms are the photon and electron. I believe that the correct meaning of these can only be understood through many applications of the term in different contexts, including quantum field theory. I have simply decided to add to the terms they already have in mind a more quantum-consistent visualization. The aim of the course is not to teach appropriate quantum mechanics (for now, that should be left for undergraduate studies), but rather to familiarize students with it in a way which will enable them to build at least a little bit of quantum intuition. A little sense of what are true peculiarities of quantum mechanics as opposed to 'anything that sounds unreasonable can be termed quantum'.

Conclusions

A course on quantum mechanics which generally falls under the category of matter-wave approach has been suggested. The course's aim is to introduce a wave description of particles, probability, quantization and uncertainty principle. The evaluation of students' concept maps in 2014/15, albeit not optimal, shows that there has been some meaningful retention and meaningful linkage. I am very pleased that there have been many linkages between probability and wave-function, probability and photons, and fundamental particles and wave- functions. Evaluation from 2015/16 shows that there has been improvement over the previous year. Almost half of the students were able to give partially correct answers to both questions analysed so far. The main difference between year 2014/15 and 2015/16 was the introduction of student activities, and formative and summative assessment.

The course still needs a lot of work. The efficiency and retention are still being investigated. Particle physicists might find points in my approach that show inconsistencies once you get deep enough into quantum physics. But, I take this to be inherent to topics that one attempts to teach in part only. We leave out of Newton's law the fact that mass can change (non-relativistically and relativistically). We leave out from the discussion of electrons in electromagnetism the fact that they have to be described by wave-functions. We leave many things out and even simplify them in order to obtain some level of understanding for the general population. I do not think that my simplifications represent a serious hinder for future learning of quantum physics, especially since they are, as far as I could consider, mathematically consistent with the quantum mechanics taught in introductory university courses.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank very much Poljane High school, Ljubljana, Slovenia, especially physics teacher Tomislav Drčar and the headmaster Bojan Končan, for allowing me access to a class, where I could teach this course and collect the preliminary data. Without them this could not have been a research, but merely an idea. I would equally like to thank the faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in particular dr. Barbara Rovšek and dr. Jurij Bajc, who allowed me access to gifted high school students in the IPhO training program, where I also tested the sequence. I would further like to acknowledge prof. Matrin Čopič for the discussion which started my investigation into this approach to quantum mechanics.

References Baily, C., Finkelstein, N. D. (2015). Teaching quantum interpretations: Revisiting the goals and practices of introductory quantum physics courses, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 11, 020124.

Brookes, D. T. and Etkina, E. (2007). Using conceptual metaphor and functional grammar to explore how language used in physics affects student learning, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 3, 010105 Deslauriers, L. and Wieman, C. E. (2011). Learning and retention of quantum concepts with different teaching methods, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 7, 010101. Didiş, N., Eryilmaz, A. and Erkoç, Ş. (2014). Investigating students’ mental models about the quantization of light, energy, and angular momentum, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 10, 020127. Page | 241 Faletič, S. (2015). A mechanical wave system to show waveforms similar to quantum mechanical wavefunctions in a potential, Eur. J. Phys. 36, 035023. Faletič, S. (2014). How close can we get waves to wavefunctions, including potential? Teaching/Learning Physics: Integrating Research into Practice, Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference, Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy, 429-436. Hilger, T. R., Moreira, M. A. and Griebeler, A. (2012). The use of mind maps and concept maps in quantum mechanics at high school level. Concept Maps: Theory, Methodology, Technology, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Concept Mapping, University of Malta, 414-421. Wuttiprom, S., Sharma, M. D., Johnston, I. D., Chitaree, R. and Chernchok, C. (2009). Development and use of a conceptual survey in introductory quantum physics, Int. J. Sci. Educ. 31, 631. Zhu, G. and Singh, C. (2012). Improving students’ understanding of quantum measurement. I. Investigation of difficulties, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, 010117.

Affiliation and address information Sergej Faletič University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Jadranska ulica 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected]

Terrain Experiments With Datalogger in Physics Teaching in Higher Secondary Education

Peter Demkanin, Jozef Trenčan Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics Page | 242 Abstract In our work we examine rationale and possibilities of involvement of outdoor data-logging based physics in higher secondary education. This work focuses on the requirements and goals of the Slovak national curricula, and in many aspects is inspired by International Baccalaureate MYP programme. In Slovakia we have equipped more than 49 lower secondary schools (age 12-15) with CMA MoLab data- loggers and a great variety of sensors. Series of teacher trainings are organised, in the light of the main idea we have published some years ago: effect to learning = carefully selected equipment x carefully selected methods; and learning is making sense of new experience by a child in collaboration with others. (Bartošovič, Demkanin, Velanová, 2012). Our base of the methods used in physics education is grounded on the work of W. Harlen (Harlen, 2006) and M. Klentschy (Klentschy, 2008). In many aspects we are trying to utilise methods of scaffolding and develop them for the particular aspects of terrain experiments. Our aim is to explore and to expand possibilities of integration of terrain experiments using dataloggers resources in teaching physics at high school. They are not common in our educational system, even if such activities have a great potential for better understanding of physics concepts and connection of physics concepts with real world. We feel a lack of professionally designed instructions for students and teachers for outdoor activities in physics. There is no doubt that outdoor activities have positive influence on personal and social development of a child. If they are adequately prepared (intended curriculum), properly realized (implemented curriculum) and with effectively evaluated outcomes (achieved curriculum), they offer learners opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in ways that add value to their everyday experiences in the classroom. For outdoor activities we use forests, fields, mountains and in city parks, playgrounds and quite often also school grounds. We are finding out the way and criteria how to instruct student in realizing terrain experiments, so he will pass this activity and that it will be beneficial for him. We are creating a series of terrain experiments using resources of dataloggers, to which we create worksheets for student, for example: measurement of temperature versus altitude or measurement of speed and distance using accelerometer. Our result is still at the level of carefully prepared plan for the next inquiry. After two years study and pilot work with students we are developing a methodology for teachers to student activities mentioned above.

Keywords Outdoor experiment, physics, computer-based laboratory.

Introduction

In our work we examine rationale and possibilities of involvement of outdoor data-logging based physics in higher secondary education. We preferably use CMA MoLab and VinciLab dataloggers. In Slovakia, in the first round we equipped more than 49 pilot lower secondary schools with 7 MoLabs and quite vast variety of sensors and in the second round 177 schools with one datalogger with some sensors. Some secondary schools we equipped with enough VinciLab-s and variety of sensors. The teacher training was focused to laboratory measurements and experiments; we did not try to make outdoor activity at that stage. Within other projects, focused to higher secondary education we involved also specially designed outdoor activities, which we would like to describe here. Not only describe the activities, but also the way and steps of their development. We feel lack of professionally designed instructions for students and teachers for outdoor activities in physics education. There is no doubt that outdoor activities have positive influence on personal and social development of a child and adolescent. We hope that, if adequately prepared (intended curriculum), properly performed (implemented curriculum) and with effectively evaluated outcomes (achieved curriculum), they offer learners opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in ways that added value to their everyday experiences in the classroom (Rickinson, 2004). For outdoor activities we use natural environment, like forests, fields, mountains and also city park or school playground. We can divide outdoor education to curriculum-oriented, behaviour- oriented, recreation–oriented, conservation-oriented or camping-survival-oriented (Ford, 1986, in Čipková 2015), and for our physics learning-teaching sequences we are focusing on curriculum, behaviour and only

slightly on survival. We orient our terrain sequences also as a place-based education and holistic education (Čipková, 2015). Here we intend to present one teaching-learning sequence, one activity prepared for higher secondary school students, investigation of dependence of temperature and altitude in a forest.

Dependence of temperature and altitude in a forest: Intended curriculum Page | 243 In the planning stage of the learning-teaching sequence we use a basic taxonomy of science education aims (Demkanin, 2013). A. aims (and content) related to attitudes of society towards science; with leading question: Why do we need science? B. aims (and content) related to methods of science; with leading question: How do we know that the nature “works” in the way we think it does? C. aims (and content) related to pieces of knowledge; with leading question: How does the nature work? And how could we use the knowledge in the technology? Last part we divide to C1. pieces of knowledge for development of scientific methods and attitudes towards science; C2. pieces of knowledge related to the quality of living and general scientific culture. Within terrain measurements and experiments we focus to the group if aims B. Within the planning phase we use also Big Ideas and Ten principles of science education formulated by the team of W. Harlen (Harlen 2006). Principle 1: Throughout the years of compulsory schooling, schools should, through their science education programmes, aim systematically to develop and sustain learners’ curiosity about the world, enjoyment of scientific activity and understanding of how natural phenomena can be explained. We are confident that for developing sustain curiosity about the world we need to sometimes perform real active pupil’s learning out of school, also within formal education. Principle 4: There should be a clear progression towards the goals of science education, indicating the ideas that need to be achieved at various points, based on careful analysis of concepts and on current research and understanding of how learning takes place. We feel as natural to go with basic key concepts formation to the level of interiorization and ability (and intention) to use the concept in everyday, out of school situation and also we feel, that methods of education connected with out of door, terrain teaching- learning sequences are one of the most influential methods to reach this goal. Deep analysis of concept formation has been performed by Velanova (2015). Even if most of the concepts used in sequences selected for a concept formation can be related to an everyday situation, we feel that it could be fruitful also to perform some of them in the terrain. Principle 5: Progression towards big ideas should result from study of topics of interest to students and relevance in their lives. W. Harlen with her team formulates also Big ideas of science education. Here she connects big ideas with interest of students, which were deeply examined some years ago within ROSE project. We have in mind the results of this project and following projects realised in Slovakia in selection of topics for terrain measurements and experiments. Principle 9: Assessment has a key role in science education. The formative assessment of students’ learning and the summative assessment of their progress must apply to all goals. Here we learn what many of our forerunners has forgotten, even in the outdoor, terrain activities we must apply assessment, of course, considering specific attitudes and specific ambience of the out of class being, especially if the terrain teaching- learning sequences are used rarely. Principle 10: In working towards these goals, schools’ science programmes should promote cooperation among teachers and engagement of the community including the involvement of scientists. We have experience that terrain experiments naturally involve specific community, regular hikers and sightseers. Involvement of a scientist also in the trip can be a great asset to the whole education.

Dependence of temperature and altitude in a forest: Implemented curriculum

Related big idea of science: The composition of the Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape the Earth’s surface and its climate. Related big idea about science: Science assumes that for every effect there is one or more causes.

Leading Idea: Warm air moves up.

Focusing questions / hypothesis formulation: We know that in a closed room the temperature down, at the level of floor is lower than temperature just under the ceiling. This we can observe in summer, and also in winter when room is heated by radiator or electrical heater. But in a case of floor hearing, the floor can be warmer than air just under the ceiling. What is the temperature distribution in open air, in the line from the foot of the hill to the Page | 244 peak? Formulation of the hypothesis is let on the students. Usually says that upper is warmer, because the warmer air moves up, or that down is warmer, because the air is hearted by theSunradiation absorbing more at the foot of the hill.

Engaging scenario In oral discussion we focus the attention of the students to the phenomena as absorption of the heat/radiation by the land, by water, by soil, by lawn, by wet land versus dry land, by paving. We can mention hot summer day on a lawn and the same hot day on a pavement, dark pavement or pale pavement. Then we can follow by the announcement of the temperature in a flying plane, which is often deeply under zero, sometimes -45 C, even if in summer. In a discussion it can be mentioned snow in Summer in the highest peaks of Alps.

Apparatus In this sequence we use MoLab interface with temperature sensor and altimeter sensor. This activity is not the first activity with these tools, so the stage of kit inventory related to the data-logger and sensors we intentionally omit here. In the following graphs, we used graphs obtained from a cycle trip in mountain area. We are not using this in school because of the safety reason, but we used those data because they are exemplary. If we would like to use bicycle in the lesson we must look closely to the safety. We have to answer these question: What is the maximal safe speed cycling downhill? What is the breaking distance?

Plan During a field trip in mountain area, we are to measure physical values with data logger MoLab with temperature and altitude sensors. Data will be taken automatically with proper sampling frequency, say 1 per second, if we are on longer trip, the sampling frequency should by properly adjusted.

Data gathering This experiment is not time consuming, because it is not necessary to climb a thousand meter high peak. It is enough to have 100 m altitude difference. On the presented data, data gathering was much less time consuming activity, because in our team we had one team member quite experienced cyclist. Mowing up took him 16 minutes and moving down only 6 minutes. The distance travelled up was 3 km and altitude difference was 250 m.

Figure 1: Experimental apparatus – bicycle with attached datalogger MoLab with temperature sensor and altimeter.

The measured data are in Figure 2. The data are shown in the form of graph, which the student can see directly on the screen of datalogger with system COACH (VinciLab, MoLab). There are no uncertainties shown on the graph, because this is the graph which the students see during the measurements. We assume that we have had

well prepared activity in which we would like to show firstly the qualitative dependence of physical values. In the end it is necessary to discuss the uncertainties, what had cause them and what they mean. It is quite obvious in Figure 3, which basically shows the dependence between temperature of the air and altitude, but it is not smooth enough. We need to know that our measurements are not perfectly precise and that there are factors of uncertainties, which we need to count in when we want to say that we measured something.

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Figure 2. Altitude (decreasing blue line) and temperature (increasing purple line) changes with time.

Making meaning The Figure 2 is not fully clearly answering out questions, we can discuss with students how to process the data, how to change the presentation of the data to get them more clear. It is quite straightforward to display temperature vs. height.

Figure 3. Temperature as a function of altitude.

From Figure 3 we clearly see that at higher altitude the temperature was lower, and that the dependence is not far from linear. The shift from linear dependence is about altitude 250 m. We can discuss the special circumstances at that altitude. If we are in a well known area, students can discuss directly. If we are in a not well known area, videosequence of the cycling down would be helpful. At the next steps we are explaining gained data with regard to students former knowledge. In discussion with students we are going through these questions: How is the air in the atmosphere heated? We are focusing students attention to radiation ofSunwith this question.

How is the ground heated? Is ground heated more fromSunor from atmosphere? In answering this question is important to say, that the air is transparent, so it is much more heated from ground than directly from the Sun. Here, we can mention the thought, that on base on this, when we were on the top of the mountain, closer to the Sun, and close to the ground, the temperature should be at least the same, if not higher. … But it is only rhetorical, because after that we have prepared next question, which should lead us into another misconception. How does hot air balloon work? Students know that hot air is expanding its volume, so its decreasing its density, Page | 246 so on base of the Archimedes law, the hot air balloon is going up. But on base on this knowledge that hot air is going up, how is that possible, that we measured lover temperature in higher positions? To find answer to this question students must keep going on in investigating of the phenomena. What are the ideal gas laws? With this question we are trying to focus students attention on physical properties of air and on that, that it air is acting on the basis ideal gas law. When the hot air is expanding and going higher, on base of which process does this happen? (Isochoric, Isobaric, Isothermal, Adiabatic) Here we can discuss them: Hot air which is raising up is changing its volume, its pressure and based on the observation, also its temperature. So we have only Adiabatic process left. But what is so special on adiabatic process? Its the property, that it occurs without transfer of heat. Then we can ask students to count change of temperature with altitude based on Adiabatic process and to compare it with measured data. It is in correspondence with them. At the end, we can give students one question for home research: How does the temperature cross section through the whole atmosphere look like? This will show them interesting results, which cannot be explained only with the Adiabatic process. It should lead them into deeper interest, or at least to knowledge, that their knowledge has some borders, but these borders can and also should by moved.

Real-life classroom terrain experiment experience We did this experiment with few groups of students in high school. We did it in two ways: Once we gave a student MoLab with temperature sensor and altitude sensor and we give him the task, to find dependence between temperature of the air and the altitude. These data are used in this paper. Secondly we took whole class outside during the longer lesson (2 hours) and after short introduction we went to nearby hill to make the measurement. We used datalogger MoLab, which makes very easy the technical part of preparation. But it was necessary, to teach students and also the teachers how to use datalogger, because they often firstly see device which cal logg, process and analyse data.(They did not realize, that their mobile is also doing this – so it is datalogger). They were not asked before to use such gained data, so we had to explain them, how to use datalogger. Measurements itself went very smoothly. For students it was very interesting and easily understandable. After measurements the students took their part in discussion, from which was obvious, that they have understood what they observed. In the “classroom” terrain experiment we use the student´s worksheet which we had prepared. We did not use them like the form of instructions for students, but more like a “keywords contents” which students can follow and like a place where students can write their observations and results. This helps us to organize better the group of 20 students during the process of terrain experiment.

Dependence of temperature and altitude in a forest: Achieved curriculum

After some time we can go back to this topic and ask students questions with following test: 1, Radiation from theSunis heating up: (C) a, only Air. b, only Earth ground. c, both Air and Earth ground. 2, Balloon with hot air is going up, because: (C,D) a, air inside balloon is hotter than air outside balloon. b, hot air inside balloon is increasing its volume, so it getting heavier. c, hot air inside balloon is increasing its volume, so it is decreasing its density. d, Archimedes force acting on balloon is bigger than gravity force.

3, Which of these processes is responsible for expansion of volume of air in hot air balloon? (B) a, Isochoric b, Isobaric c, Isothermal d, Adiabatic 4, Which of these processes is the most responsible for cooling down of hot air which is rising up in atmosphere? (D) a, Isochoric Page | 247 b, Isobaric c, Isothermal d, Adiabatic 5, In which part of atmosphere do we live? (C) a, Thermosphere b, Stratosphere c, Troposphere d, Mesosphere

Example of Student Worksheet – Temperature of Air vs. Altitude

Opening tasks: 1, What are the symbols and units of temperature and pressure? Symbol of temperature: Unit of temperature: Symbol of pressure: Unit of pressure: 2, How does the temperature of air depend on altitude?

3, Experiment: Choose the track, on which the change of altitude will be significant. 4, Connect the temperature sensor and altitude sensor to MoLab. 5, Setup the frequency and time of measurement. frequency: time: 6, Start measurement and walk through chosen track. 7, After finishing the track save measured data.

8, Evaluation of measurements: What was the change of the altitude and the temperature difference? Change of the altitude: temperature difference: 9, Draw in the graph the dependence between temperature and time:

10, Draw in the graph the dependence between temperature and altitude:

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11, If the dependence between temperature of air and altitude should be linear, mathematical formula for this will be: A*altitude + B = temperature. What are the coefficients A and B on the base of beginning and end of the measurements?

A= B= 12, On the base of last dependence, how will change the temperature, if we go 500 metres higher?

Temperature would increase/decrease for °C

13, Discussion: How is the air in the atmosphere heated? 14, How is the ground heated? Is ground heated more fromSunor from atmosphere? 15, How does hot air balloon work? 16, What is the ideal gas? What is the ideal gas law? 17, When the hot air is expanding and going higher, on base of which process does this happen? (Isochoric, Isobaric, Isothermal, Adiabatic)

18, Homework: How does the temperature cross section through whole atmosphere look like?

Conclusion

From our first experience we see, that systematically prepared, well implemented terrain experiment and formatively and summatively evaluated knowledge from such teaching-learning sequences brings a clear gain to students knowledge and also changes their attitude to the process of investigation and learning.

Acknowledgements The work presented in this paper has been supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of SR, through the project KEGA 077UK-4/2015, Scaffolded Science Inquiry within Formal Physics Education.

References ČIPKOVÁ, E, KAROLČÍK, Š, ŽARNOVIČAN, H, DROPPOVÁ, K. 2015 Vonkajšie prostredie ako priestor pre vzelávanie a učenie sa, Comenius University, Bratislava, 2015. DEMKANIN, P: Preparation of Physics Teachers from Various Perspectives In: Journal of Baltic Science Education, 2013 ISSN 1648-3898 DEMKANIN,P., BARTOŠOVIČ,L., VELANOVÁ,M. 2012 Simple multiplication as a form of presenting experience with introducing data-loggers to physics teachers who do not have any experience with usage of such tools in education, EDULEARN12 Proceedings IATED, 2012. ISBN 978-84-695-3491-5.

HARLEN, W., 2006. Teaching, learning and Assessing Science 5-12. London : SAGE, 2006. ISBN 987 – 1412908726. CHALUPKOVÁ, S., 2012. Využitie vedomostí žiakov získaných mimo školy v školskom vyučovaní fyziky. Bratislava. FMFI UK. ISBN 978-80-89186-88-4. KLENTSCHY, M., THOMSON, L. 2008. Scaffolding Science Inquiry Through Lesson Design, NH : Heineman, Page | 249 2008. ISBN 978-0-325-0114-7. PETTY, G., 2008. Moderní vyučování, Praha: Portál. ISBN 978-80-7367-427-4 RICKINSON, M. (2004). A Review of Research on Outdoor Learning. Field Studies Council VELANOVÁ, M., 2015. Zavádzanie fyzikálnych pojmov v gymnaziálnom vzdelávaní, Physics concept formation in high schools. Unpublished doctoral thesis, FMFI UK, Bratislava, 2015.

Affiliation and address information Peter Demkanin Jozef Trenčan Department of Theoretical Physics and Didactics of Department of Theoretical Physics and Didactics of Physics Physics Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics Comenius University in Bratislava Comenius University in Bratislava Mlynská dolina F1 Mlynská dolina F1 842 48 Bratislava 842 48 Bratislava Slovakia Slovakia e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

The Effects of Different Phases of a Predict-Observe-Explain Activity on Students’ Learning about Buoyancy

Jelena Radovanović1, Josip Sliško2, Ivana Stepanović Ilić3 1Primary school “Slobodan Sekulić”, Užice, Serbia 2Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matemáticas Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Page | 250 México 3Institute of Psychology, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract This paper presents a Predict-Observe-Explain activity aimed at deepening students’ knowledge on buoyancy and related phenomena that combines individual and small-group activities. The research is done on a sample of 65 students, 13 years old, which have learned about buoyancy through teaching methods that foster active physics learning. The results point to a higher level of understanding of physical phenomena in question, achieved in part by the exchange of ideas and small group discussions, performed after the individual stage.

Keywords Predict-observe-explain, peer instruction, simple experiments, buoyancy

Introduction

This paper describes the results of a research conducted as a part of the first author’s doctoral project “Changes in students’ alternative conceptions during physics learning - Effects of traditional teaching and active learning methods”. The research was conducted with a sample of 65 seventh-grade primary school students (13 years old) in Uzice (Serbia). The students were part of an experimental group that learned about buoyancy and related phenomena through active physics learning. Although floating and sinking are everyday phenomena, frequently experienced by students, research shows that they represent a highly demanding teaching subject (Hardy et al. 2006; Yin et al. 2008; Yin et al. 2014). Overcoming students’ alternative conceptions on those phenomena requires an application of appropriate teaching strategies based on active learning methods (Gang 1995). This paper presents an application of the Predict-Observe-Explain teaching strategy, combined with exchanges of ideas and small-group discussions on the road to adoption of proper scientific concepts and understanding. Classroom demonstrations are frequently considered a good way to increase students’ interest and understanding of the subject matter. Nevertheless, when performed in a way that keeps students in a strictly passive observer role, research (Crouch et al. 2004) shows that these expectations are not fulfilled. In order to reap benefits from classroom demonstrations, students should be engaged, at least in the form of offering predictions, or, time permitting, in additional discussions on the observed event. Introduction of the short section during which students are asked to offer their predictions on what will happen during the demonstration activates the students’ cognitive processes and results in significant improvements in their understanding of subject matter and related academic achievements.

Preliminary research

In an earlier paper (Radovanovic & Slisko 2013) the authors described an active learning sequence based on the Predict–Observe–Explain (POE) teaching strategy and its application to a lesson on buoyant force. The POE approach consists of the three main stages: students should first predict what will happen in a hypothetical situation, next they are given a chance to observe what actually does happen when the same situation is created in an experiment or a demonstration and, finally, the students are asked to explain what they saw. The strategy aims to create cognitive dissonance in students by exposing them to situations for which their non-scientific, alternative conceptions cannot offer valid predictions. In order to achieve that goal, the demonstration in the “observe” stage should be as simple and clear as possible, leaving a lasting impression in students, while remaining scientifically valid. The activity proposed in (Radovanovic & Slisko 2012; Radovanovic & Slisko 2013) attempts to fulfill those requirements, while, at the same time, requiring only a very basic set of items: a party balloon and a water container made of glass or transparent plastic. It further splits explicitly the two phases of typical classroom buoyancy demonstration (measurement of object’s weight in air and, subsequently, when immersed in a liquid. In the first part of the activity (“measure-explain”), students measure the elongation of a suspended balloon’s neck as water is poured into it, and then explain why the neck became extended. The second part (“predict-

measure-explain”) begins with teacher announcing that the, still suspended, balloon will now be immersed into water, up to its neck. Students then pick one of several offered predictions on what will happen with the length of the balloon’s neck upon immersion and elaborate their choices. The balloon is then lowered into the water container, the new measurement of length is taken and students are asked to note the value, determine which of the predictions came true and give detailed explanation of what they observed. The third, final, part has the students grade the activity on the scale of 0 (“do not like the activity at all”) to 5 (“like the activity very much”). The preliminary research described in (Radovanovic & Slisko 2013) yielded promising results. While around 2/3 Page | 251 of the students gave acceptable answers and explanations in the first part of the activity, the outcome was reversed in the beginning of the second part, with only 1/3 of the students giving acceptable predictions and explanations and the rest splitting roughly evenly between outright wrong predictions and good predictions but with invalid or missing explanations. Predicting and explaining the outcome of a hypothetical situation in part two was significantly harder for many students when compared to providing an explanation for an already witnessed event in part one. After the demonstration with lowering the balloon in water was performed, the situation improved again: only less than 1/3 of the students gave unacceptable answers after having observed the event, more than a complete reversal when compared to the quality (or lack thereof) of their predictions. Testing their ideas clearly helped students improve their understanding of the phenomenon. The third part showed that students generally enjoyed taking part in the activity, with overwhelming majority giving it high grades (4 or 5). This outcome was possibly emphasized by the relative novelty of active learning methods in Serbian school practice. The authors noted that further improvements could be made by the introduction of student self- evaluation and small group discussions as a form of peer learning into this activity.

Peer instruction

The Peer Instruction method (PI) was developed with the aim of improving students’ understanding of fundamental concepts of physics by engaging them in various cooperative activities related to the subject matter (Mazur 1997). The PI lectures are organized as a series of shorter segments, each revolving around a particular physical concept. Students are given a conceptual question, probing their understanding of the concept that was just presented to them. They provide individual written answers at first, and then they discuss them with their peers, trying to explain their reasoning and convince others that their answer is the correct one. Teacher moderates the discussion and provides a final summary at the end of the segment, while paying attention to common pitfalls and alternative conceptions presented by the students during the individual and group stages. This approach provides a sense of structure and participation duty that engages even the low-performing students, unlike the more traditional asking of follow-up questions during or after a lecture. An overview of the long-term PI application (Crouch & Mazur 2001) shows that the method leads to significant increases in students’ conceptual understanding of physics, as measured by concept inventory tests, as well as to better results in quantitative problem solving. On a more detailed note, the same study demonstrated that the best results, in terms of improvement of conceptual understanding, were obtained in cases when the initial success rate in answering conceptual questions was around 50%, with 35% - 70% designated as the zone in which significant improvements occur. Almost half of the final correct answers were reached after the discussion stage, with only a small minority of students going from correct to incorrect answers in the process. Findings in our preliminary research corroborate these numbers, even though the preliminary research was done with primary school subjects and the quoted study covered university non-physics majors.

Results of investigation into the possibilities for improvement of students’ achievements during POE activity by using PI

With the results of the described preliminary research in mind, a task of investigating the possibilities for improvement of students’ understanding of floating and sinking during POE activity by using the PI method was chosen as the next logical step. As mentioned before, 65 primary school students, belonging to the seventh grade (13 years of age) took part in the research. They learned about the buoyancy and related phenomena through the application of active learning methods. Analysis of the students’ achievements focused on their answers to the following questions: (1) Explain why the balloon’s neck extended as the water was poured in (Figure 1.). (2) Predict the distance between the lines drawn on the balloon’s neck, when it is immersed in water. (3) Explain the observed distance between the lines (it reverted back to 1cm).

Part one Individual students’ answers were analysed, as well as the results obtained after the students have had a short exchange of ideas in small groups for all three questions. Groups were non-homogenous and comprised of 4-5 students. Most of the students (81.5%) properly explained the increase in the distance between the lines when water was added, stating that the increase in balloon’s mass and/or weight is the cause. After the discussion, 21.5% of the students gave more complete and detailed explanations, and 10 out of 12 students that gave a wrong or Page | 252 oversimplified answer (such as “The neck was extended because water was poured in”) now provided a correct explanation.

Figure 1. The demonstration sketch provided with the first question in the worksheet.

For example: A student that stated in the individual stage that the balloon’s neck extended because its mass has increased, after the discussion said that „as the mass is increased due to added water, the weight is also increased, that is, the force stretching the balloon’s neck is increased.“ Students’ achievements on the first task before and after the discussion stage are shown in Figure 2.

100%

80%

60%

Correct explanation Incorrect explanation 40%

20%

0% Before the discussion After the discussion

Figure 2. Results of the first task.

Part two Students’ predictions fell into the three, almost equally represented, categories of answers: (1) correct predictions with detailed explanations, including listing all the forces acting upon the balloon and their relationship - 35.4%; (2) correct but only partially elaborated explanations, primarily those that note the existence of the buoyant force - 33.8% and (3) other predictions (wrong, with or without explanations or correct but without any explanation) - 30.8%. After ideas were exchanged in small groups, most of the students with completely or partially explained correct predictions stuck to their answers, and almost all of the students with incorrect or unexplained prediction came to an acceptable answer (Figure 3). The amount of correct predictions with complete explanations and those with partial explanations after the group stage is approximately the same: 47.7% and 52.3%, respectively.

A more detailed view of different categories of students’ answers, as well as the transitions between those categories that happened after the discussion stage is shown in Figure 4. It is apparent that most of the students (21) kept their correct predictions of the outcome combined with detailed explanations. For example: „When the balloon is lowered into the water, buoyant force will act upon it and it will be equal to the balloon’s weight. Since these two forces are equal, the balloon’s neck will return to its original state.“ After the group stage, 2 students provided explanations with even more details. For example: „When the balloon is in the air, the buoyant force that acts on it is negligible. However, if the balloon is immersed into the water, buoyant force will increase, until it is equal to the gravitational force. Then the balloon’s neck will return to the original size.”

60%

50%

40% Correct prediction with detailed explanation 30% Correct prediction with partial Page | 253 explanation Other cases (wrong prediction or 20% no explanation)

10%

0% Before the discussion After the discussion

Figure 3. Results of the second task.

14 2 5 A-no prediction B D B-wrong prediction 3 8 C-correct A F prediction, no 5 2 5 C E explanation 21

Figure 4. Number of students per answer category and the changes in student count for each category between the individual and the group stage.

Some students (14) have stated a correct prediction before and after the discussion, but with less detailed explanations. For example: “As soon as the balloon is placed in water, buoyant force will act on it and the neck will shrink to the same length as it was in the air.” However, some of the students that provided similar explanations in the individual stage (8) added more details concerning relations between forces or densities of the object and fluid, after they discussed the issue with their group members. For example: “Buoyant force will act on the balloon, but it will be the same as the gravitational force acting downwards. And if the water-filled balloon and the water itself have similar densities, the balloon will float with its neck shortened.” Students with correct predictions but without any explanations in the individual stage managed to provide their own explanations after the discussion, with less (5 students) or more (also 5 students) details. Eight students had wrong predictions in the individual stage. Most of them demonstrated attitude similar to the following example: “The balloon’s neck will shorten due the buoyant force, but it will be somewhat longer than it was in the air.” After exchange of ideas, all of these students have come up with a correct prediction containing more or less conceptual details.

Part three As for the final task, during the individual stage 55% of the students gave full and correct answers (stating all the forces that act on the balloon and their relationships), 35% provided partially correct explanation (noting the consequences of the buoyant force’s action on the balloon when it is immersed in water) and the remaining 10% gave no answers. After the discussion, all of the students gave correct explanations, with 20% of the students providing a more detailed answer than in the individual stage. For example: “I have predicted correctly that the balloon’s neck will return to its original state due to the buoyant force. The balloon is in a state of balance: the buoyant force acting vertically upwards and the gravitational force acting vertically down are equal. The balloon is balanced and it floats in water.” Or: “The more the balloon is immersed into the water, the stronger the buoyant force. When the balloon is completely submerged (with only the neck sticking out), this force becomes equal to the gravitational force, and therefore the balloon is no longer trying to move up or down, and its neck is the same as when it was hanging empty in the air.”

Conclusion

This paper described an active learning sequence aimed at reinforcing students’ conceptual knowledge about buoyant force and related phenomena. It is based on an application of Predict-Observe-Explain activity, with added interactions between students and exchange of ideas in small groups (Peer instruction). The research was done on 65 students from an experimental group that acquired their initial knowledge on these subjects through Page | 254 teaching methods providing them active learning experiences.

100%

80%

60% Full and correct answers Partial explanation 40% No answers

20%

0% Before the discussion After the discussion

Figure 5. Results of the third task.

Study results lead to a conclusion that the application of the described POE activity shows solid achievements of experimental group students with regards to the conceptual understanding of buoyancy. Exchange of ideas in small groups has positive effect on in-depth comprehension and knowledge. Discussions held after the individual predictions were especially important, because they contributed to the correct explanations after the experiment. Comparing the results with the achievements of students that learned about buoyancy through classical lectures during the preliminary research, a significant improvement is noticeable in the quality of predictions given during the individual stage, and especially after the exchange of ideas in small groups. Students also provided better explanations, pointing to a deeper and more encompassing conceptual knowledge of studied phenomena.

References Crouch, C.H. and Mazur, E. (2001). Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results, Am. J. Phys. 69, 970-977. Crouch, C., Fagen, A.P., Callan, J.P. and Mazur, E. (2004). Classroom demonstrations: Learning tools or entertainment? Am. J. Phys. 72, 835 Gang, S. (1995). Removing Preconceptions with a "Learning Cycle", The Phys. Teach. 33, 346-354. Hardy, I., Jonen, A., Möller, K. and Stern, E. (2006). Effects of instructional support within constructivist learning environments for elementary school students' understanding of "floating and sinking", Journal of Educational Psychology 98(2), 307. Mazur E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual, Prentice–Hall, Upper Saddle River, New York. Radovanovic, J. and Slisko, J. (2012). Approximate value of buoyant force: A water-filled balloon demonstration, The Phys.Teach. 50, 490-491. Radovanovic, J. and Slisko, J. (2013). Applying a predict–observe–explain sequence in teaching of buoyant force, Phys. Educ. 48, 28-34. Yin, Y., Tomita, M. K. and Shavelson, R. J. (2008). Diagnosing and Dealing with Student Misconceptions: Floating and Sinking, Science scope 31(8), 34-39. Yin, Y., Tomita, M. K. and Shavelson, R. J. (2014). Using formal embedded formative assessments aligned with a short-term learning progression to promote conceptual change and achievement in science, International Journal of Science Education 36(4), 531-552.

Affiliation and address information Jelena Radovanović Primary school “Slobodan Sekulić”, Norveških interniraca 16, 31000 Užice, Serbia e-mail: [email protected]

Page | 255 Ivana Stepanovic Ilic, Ph. D. Institute of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy Cika Ljubina 18-20 11 000 Beograd, Serbia e-mail: [email protected]

Josip Slisko, Ph. D. Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matemáticas Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Avenida San Claudio y 18 Sur, Colonia San Manuel, Ciudad Universitaria, 72570 Puebla, México e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

An Inquiry-Based Approach to the Learning of Dynamic Equilibrium by Means of the Argentine Tango

Nicola Pizzolato, Dominique Persano Adorno Department of Physics and Chemistry, Group of Physics Education Research, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze - Ed.18, 90128 Palermo, Italy Page | 256 Abstract Within the context of higher education for science or engineering undergraduates, we present an inquiry-driven learning path aimed at developing a more meaningful conceptual understanding of the basic concept of dynamic equilibrium. At university level, educators usually introduce the students to the concept of equilibrium by asserting that an object is in a state of equilibrium when the vector sums of all forces and torques acting on it are zero. However, this definition, which is formally correct, frequently produce the misleading view that the equilibrium can only be obtained when the body is not moving. This is particularly true for mechanical engineering undergraduates who are mostly trained to perform numerical calculations about static structures. In this regard, the concept of dynamical equilibrium, which is basically important, for example, in advanced studies about the mechanics of racing vehicles, is almost never treated in introductory physics courses at university. Our inquiry-driven learning path is aimed at filling this gap. Everybody agrees on the importance of student motivation for achieving a successful learning process and on the need to engage students into highly stimulating learning environments. For these reasons, our question-driven exploration of dynamical equilibrium has been contextualized by exploring the biomechanics properties involved in the Argentine Tango.

Keywords Inquiry-based teaching, biomechanics.

Introduction

In the past decades, science education research has performed considerable efforts to promote a change in the approaches and methods for an effective teaching in K-12 grades and up to college and university level, suggesting to switch from a passive lecture-style teaching to a more active and student-centred teaching approach (NRC, 1996, 2000; Rocard et al., 2007; NRC 2012). These studies are grounded on the basic consideration that any practice, related to professional as well as everyday life, is grounded on a mental process of inquiry (Llewellyn, 2002), a powerful instrument that people often unconsciously use to investigate the world around them and connect new experiences to their prior understanding and beliefs. In this constructivist view, Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) has been developed as a functional way of considering teaching and learning activities, with the purpose of filling the need of today economic, environmental and social realities that demand new science skills and higher-order thinking abilities from the students (Stephens & Clement, 2010). This is particularly relevant in engineering education where young graduates are asked to demonstrate to hold both specialist-discipline knowledge, abilities to solve practical problems, competences on using mathematical, scientific and technological tools to analyse and interpret data, and modelling skills (Nguyen, 1998; NAE, 2004). The development of all these competences needs an effective science and engineering instruction, which would be able to drive the students towards a deeper understanding of disciplinary fundamental concepts and, at the same time, to strengthen their reasoning skills and transversal abilities. In inquiry-based learning, the students are engaged in identifying scientifically oriented questions, planning investigations, collecting data and evidences in laboratory and/or real life situations, building descriptions and explanation models, sharing their findings and eventually addressing new questions that arise. Depending on the amount of information and support provided by the teachers, the learners may be involved in a structured, guided or open inquiry (Schwab, 1962; Herron, 1971; Banchi and Bell, 2008). Students involved in more or less open-inquiry activities would gain the awareness of the process of scientific inquiry and a deeper view of the nature of science (Rocard et al., 2007; NRC, 2011). This latter, promoting scientific literacy, is considered a main goal of science education, but also a necessary condition to develop high skills of scientific reasoning. This paper describes a research work devoted to the development of an inquiry-based learning path aimed at promoting a more meaningful conceptual understanding of the basic concept of dynamic equilibrium. At university level, educators usually introduce the students to the concept of equilibrium by asserting that an object is in a state of equilibrium when the vector sums of all forces and torques acting on it are zero. However, this definition, which is formally correct, frequently produce the misleading view that the equilibrium can only be obtained when the body is not moving. This is particularly true for mechanical engineering undergraduates who

are mostly trained to perform numerical calculations about static structures. In this regard, the concept of dynamical equilibrium, which is basically important, for example, in advanced studies about the mechanics of racing vehicles, is almost never treated in introductory physics courses at university. Our inquiry-driven learning path is aimed at filling this gap. The first step of a well known inquiry-based model of sequencing learning experiences, i.e. the 5E model (Bybee, 1993), is represented by a phase of engagement. By synthesizing, engagement involves the setting of the learning environment in a way that stimulates interest and generates curiosity in the topic under study. Page | 257 Motivation to learn and curiosity represent a fundamental part of any inquiry-based teaching/learning strategy of science instruction. This is the reason of choosing a very attractive topic, a basic biomechanics study about the Argentine Tango (AT), as a mean for introducing the concept of dynamic equilibrium. Many studies treated the biomechanics of a dance for many different purposes (Wilson & Kwon, 2008; Wilson, 2009; Krasnow et al., 2011 and references therein), mainly devoted to improve dancers’ performances or reduce the risks of injuries. However, to the best of our knowledge, our study represents the first attempt of motivating the students and promoting a more effective learning of science concepts by using a biomechanics research about dancing. The paper is organized as follows: in Sect. 2 we briefly introduce the method used to carry out this research. In Sect. 3 we present the learning sequence, a biomechanics investigation performed through a path of reasoned questions which the students may be interested to address. Concluding discussion and final remarks are given in Section 4.

The method

The idea of carrying out this work, proposing a teaching/learning path focused on the introduction of the physics concept of dynamic equilibrium by means of a biomechanics study of a dance performance, is mostly based on the need of an effective engagement of the students. Moreover, the learning path has been properly developed within an inquiry-based method of instruction, which is rarely adopted at university level, but strongly encouraged for introducing young undergraduates to crucial aspects of the nature of science. Among other dances, the AT has been chosen because it holds the peculiarity of being a dance that is carried out without any pre-ordered choreography, but performed on the bases of a body language that allows the two dancers to communicate by means of their equilibrium with the ground. The AT dancers’ biomechanical features and the characteristics of dynamic equilibrium that intrinsically guides the dance are investigated by means of detailed video and image analysis. All images used for this study were collected from the video lessons freely offered by Ana Padron & Diego Blanco (http://tangoforall.com/) on their youtube channel Howcast.com. Before starting this study, the two authors followed a one-year-long basic class of AT at the CUS Sport Centre of the University of Palermo. The images have been analysed by the two authors, supported by two professional instructors of AT having more than ten years of expertise. In this respect, all the arrows, representing the forces acting on the bodies, have been drawn in the pictures after a careful checking process. The method followed to design this learning path is grounded on the well known 5E learning cycle (Bybee, 1993), where the students are first engaged within a highly stimulating learning environment by means of a set of relevant questions, then driven through a process of exploration, explanation and discussion of results.

The Learning Sequence

In this section we report the results of a series of question-driven investigations that a class of science/engineering undergraduates could be interested to perform, with the aim of elucidating the fundamental role of dynamical equilibrium in mechanics. In the following, an inquiry-based approach is suggested to scaffold students’ investigations throughout the several scenarios they may encounter during their learning paths. The general problem driving students’ questioning deals with the exploration of concrete situations of equilibrium in the biomechanics of a human body, in terms of a balance of forces and torques. The teaching/learning path is outlined in the next two subsections, each one starting from a reasoned question and describing a set of investigations whose results are explicative at some level of understanding and, at the same time, are able to boost the learners’ thinking with further questions to be addressed by a deeper scientific inquiry. The learning sequence starts from the preliminary analysis of a human body in equilibrium on its feet, with the normal force acting from the ground and balancing the body gravity. Subsequently, the basic communication unit in the body language between the two dancers is introduced and analysed in the light of balance of forces. Then, three basic steps of the AT are presented and detailed inquired, by following a reasoned path taking into account all forces and torques acting on the dancers.

What we mean as equilibrium? How can an object be in equilibrium when it moves? The first questions drive the students’ inquiry towards a reasoned exploration of the physics concept of equilibrium and how this may be maintained when the studied structure is not a static one but a moving body. The theory of equilibrium is based on the Newtonian concepts of inertia and force. Without any net force and torque acting on a body, it remains at rest or keeps moving at a constant speed and/or rotating at constant angular velocity. In AT the equilibrium with the ground is the basic unit of language between the two dancers. In every moment, the dancer must know where the gravity acting on his/her body is projected on the ground and which Page | 258 forces the ground is acting on his/her feet. In Figure 1 we show three different situations where such equilibrium of forces acting on the dancers is obtained in a static case. In particular, three different configurations of the Cambio de Peso, balancing body gravity with the ground, are shown. Red and green arrows represent the contact forces acting to the right and left foot, respectively. Light-blue and pink arrows indicate the gravity acting on the centre of mass of male and female dancer, respectively. The force of gravity is always counterbalanced by the sum of the two normal forces, but the dancer may equally distribute his/her weight on both feet or let the body be balanced only on one leg (Figure 1). The analysis of the these first images may provide the students with a clearer view of the concept of equilibrium in static or slightly moving systems.

Figure 1. Three different configurations of the “Cambio de Peso”, balancing body gravity with the ground. Red and green arrows show the contact forces acting to the right and left foot, respectively. Light-blue and pink arrows indicate the gravity acting on the male and female dancer, respectively.

A body can accelerate only when this equilibrium of forces and/or torques is violated. Normally, a person starts walking by mean of the friction force which creates an imbalance on the torque between the body gravity and the contact force. Consequently, an initial rotation around their feet pushes the person to move his/her first step. In a walking person, the centre of mass accelerates horizontally but almost not vertically, maintaining a condition of dynamical quasi-equilibrium along the vertical direction. A direct experimentation and analysis of a walking body may be useful for confirming their theoretical background about the balancing of forces and torques, even without specifically entering into a detailed description of more complex dynamical situations. A reasoned inquiry about the physics behind the observed phenomena will guide the learners through a deeper exploration of the roles played by the friction force, centre of mass and torques.

How can a multiple-body system be at equilibrium when it moves? In this subsection we present two more complex situations about dynamic equilibrium which the students may be stimulated to investigate by introducing two basic steps in AT. The first one is called Salida Basica, which is the first step that the male dancer performs in order to move externally from the line of walking with respect to the female dancer. In Figure 2 we describe this step by showing a sequence of numbered images, representing the temporal evolution of this step. Initially, the male dancer balance the gravity acting on his body only on the right leg while the female balances her weight on her left one (Figure 2, panel 1). Then, the male (female) dancer moves towards his left (her right) by using the two forces, gravity and normal force, to create a torque and let the body moving. In Figure 2 we decided to do not draw horizontal forces, such as the friction force, for not confusing the picture, but here the students may be guided to inquiry about the role of the friction force acting on the right (left) foot of the male (female) dancer in order to move laterally (Figure 2, panels 2 and 3, or panel 12).

Page | 259

Figure 2. Temporal sequence of the “Salida Basica”, the basic step of Argentine Tango. Red and green arrows show the contact forces acting to the right and left foot of the dancers, respectively. Light-blue and pink arrows indicate the gravity acting on the male and female dancer, respectively.

When the male dancer steps forward (Figure 2, panels 4 to 7, or panels 10 and 11), the equilibrium of vertical forces with the ground is still valid (the vertical acceleration of the centre of mass is negligible), while a net torque is now present between the gravity and the contact force. Here, the friction force is again responsible for an initial push forward that creates a distance between the application point of the gravity and that of the normal force, causing a torque. This produce an initial rotation onward of the body suddenly stopped by the contact of the forward foot with the ground (Figure 2, panels 4 and 5, for example). The same kind of imbalance is responsible for any lateral step. In Figure 3 we show the temporal sequence of the Front Ocho, the typical pivoting step in AT. The meaning of the coloured arrows is the same as in Figure 1 and 2. Here, the dancers still maintain their equilibrium with the ground while the female dancer is driven to pivot around her left foot (panels 2 to 4) and then on her right foot (panels 6 to 8). The temporal sequence shown in Figure 3 may be used by the teachers to stimulate the students to perform autonomous investigations, eventually by following a more open inquiry approach, of all the forces and torques acting on the dancers’ bodies in this different step of AT, in the light of what previously experienced and discussed. At this stage, the teachers should take the role of moderator in a peer-to-peer discussion, leaving the

students to think about the physical situation and image the action of all the forces involved, model the dynamical evolution of the studied system and draw their own conclusions. Finally, the teacher may also drive the students’ inquiry towards the analysis of other similar dynamical systems where the concept of dynamic equilibrium play a fundamental role as in AT, eventually suggesting the use of computer-based specific tools. For mechanical engineering undergraduates, an example of such a system is represented by a racing vehicle where the balancing of the vertical forces is crucial for increasing the cornering capacity of the vehicle itself.

Page | 260 Discussion and conclusions

The knowledge of the physics concept of dynamical equilibrium is fundamental for any physicist or engineer involved in mechanical design of future moving structure. However, it is widely recognized that an effective understanding of the physics governing natural phenomena cannot be achieved by a solely lecture-based instruction, as usually adopted in many university courses. The literature in the field of physics education research agrees on the benefits of engaging the learners on inquiry-based learning paths, in order to help them to surmount epistemological difficulties (Pizzolato et al., 2014), achieve a more effective conceptual knowledge (Streveler et al., 2008) and, at the same time, enhance student reasoning skills (Redish and Smith, 2008). In this framework, an effective engagement of the students needs the elicitation of both curiosity and motivation to learn. This paper presents an inquiry-driven teaching/learning path focused on the concept of dynamic equilibrium, by adopting the highly-engaging context of the biomechanics of AT. It is presented by following a scientific questioning sequence that hypothetical students engaged into an active experimentation of dynamic equilibrium in moving bodies could be stimulated to address. After an initial phase of exploration and definition of the basic properties of the dynamical system, a Newtonian analysis is guided through a reasoned inquiry following the student point of view.

Figure 3. Temporal sequence of the “Front Ocho”, the typical pivoting step in Argentine Tango. Red and green arrows show the contact forces acting to the right and left foot of the dancers, respectively. Light-blue and pink arrows indicate the gravity acting on the male and female dancer, respectively.

At the end of this learning path the students should have acquired a deeper understanding of the concept of dynamic equilibrium and a wider view of the many physical situations in mechanical engineering where this concept must be crucially taken into account. In addition, the student should have gained a greater awareness of the efficiency of this method of investigating natural phenomena and the physics contents in real contexts. In

summary, the activation of new cognitive resources by means of inquiry-based teaching strategies, which are mainly deployed by firstly engaging and motivating the students and then supporting them into a process of reasoned exploration, promoting peer-to-peer discussions and the sharing of obtained results, makes this learning path a potential aid for teaching the physics of equilibrium mechanics more effectively. Finally, the benefits of integrating a lecture-based method of instruction on static/dynamic equilibrium issues with scientific inquiry pedagogies would result on an enhancement of the student abilities on diagnosing problems, critiquing experiments, constructing models and planning alternative investigations, which are all Page | 261 high-order reasoning skills required for future scientists or engineers.

Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank the two Argentine Tango instructors Francesca Polizzi and Marcella Ingoglia at the CUS Sport Centre of the University of Palermo. All images used for this study were collected from the video lessons freely offered by Ana Padron & Diego Blanco (http://tangoforall.com/) on the youtube channel Howcast.com.

References Banchi, H. and Bell, R. (2008). The Many Levels of Inquiry, Sci. Child. 46, 26-29. Bybee, R.W. (1993). An instructional model for science education, in Developing Biological Literacy, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, Colorado Springs, CO. Herron, M. D. (1971). The nature of scientific enquiry, School Rev. 79, 171-212. Krasnow, D., Wilmerdind, M. V., Stecyk, S., Wyon, M. and Koutedakis, Y. (2011). Biomechanical Research in Dance: A literature Review, Med. Probl. Perform. Art. 26, 3-23. Llewellyn, D. (2002). Inquiry Within: Implementing Inquiry-based Science Standards, Corwin Press Inc. Thousand Oaks, Ca. National Academy of Engineering, NAE (2004). The engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. National Research Council, NRC (1996). National Science Education Standards. National Committee for Science Education Standards and Assessment, The National Academy Press, Washington DC. National Research Council, NRC (2000). Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. National Research Council, NRC (2011). Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. National Research Council, NRC (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. Nguyen, D. Q. (1998). The Essential Skills and Attributes of an Engineer: A Comparative Study of Academics, Industry Personnel and Engineering Students, Glob. J. Eng. Educ. 2, 65-75. Pizzolato, N., Fazio, C., Sperandeo Mineo, R. M., Persano Adorno, D. (2014). Open-inquiry driven overcoming of epistemological difficulties in engineering undergraduates: A case study in the context of thermal science, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 10, 010107. Rocard, M., Csermely, P., Jorde, D., Lenzen, D., Walberg-Henriksson, H., Hemmo, V. (2007). Science Education Now: A renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe, EU Research Report ISSN 1018-5593. Schwab, J. J. (1962). The teaching of science as inquiry, in Schwab J.J. & Brandwein P.F. (Eds), The teaching of science (pp. 3-103). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Stephens, A. L. and Clement, J. J. (2010). Documenting the use of expert scientific reasoning process by high school physics students, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6 020122. Streveler, R. A., Litzinger, T. A., Miller, R. L. and Steif, P. S. (2008). Learning conceptual knowledge in the engineering science: Overview and future research directions, J. Eng. Educ. 97, 279. Redish, E. F. and Smith, K. A. (2008). Looking beyond content: Skill development for engineers, J. Eng. Educ. 97 295. Wilson, M., Kwon, Y. (2008). The Role of Biomechanics in Understanding Dance Movement, J. Dance Med. Sci. 12, 109. Wilson, M. (2009). Applying Biomechanic Research in the Dance Studio, The IADMS Bulletin for Teachers 1, 11.

Affiliation and address information Nicola Pizzolato Group of Physics Education Research Department of Physics and Chemistry University of Palermo Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 18 90128 Palermo Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Irregular Chaos in a Bowl

Péter Nagy1, Péter Tasnádi2 1Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Kecskemét College, Kecskemét, Hungary 2Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

Page | 262 Abstract The investigation of chaotic systems itself is very interesting but the subject could be an excellent didactic tool in raising the interest of the students and motivate them to learn modern physics. The study of relatively simple chaotic systems can provide a deep insight into the deterministic and probabilistic behaviour of the natural processes already at introductory physics courses. The joint presentation of a real system and its mathematical model helps effectively the students to understand the intricate concepts and ideas used for the description of the physics of chaotic motion. In the present paper the dynamic behaviour of a ball moving in a complex-shaped bowl will be studied. The equations of motion can be solved by the freely downloadable Dynamics Solver program which is a well-accomplished tool for the investigation of dynamic systems1.

Keywords Chaotic motion, permanent and transient chaos, fractal basins.

Introduction

Computers have opened up a new dimension for physics experimentation. A completely new method, the computerized experimental physics (numerical simulations) has been developed for the quantitative investigation of those systems that previously could be studied only qualitatively. One of the most important and best-known fields of the numerical simulations is the study of chaotic systems. The investigation of chaotic systems itself is very interesting but the subject could be an excellent didactic tool in raising the interest of the students and motivate them to learn modern physics. The study of relatively simple chaotic systems can provide a deep insight into the deterministic and probabilistic behaviour of the natural processes already at introductory physics courses. Although excellent introductory monographs are available which explain the basic ideas and concepts [Tél, T., Gruiz, M. (2006).], and in which a wide variety of simple mechanical systems producing chaotic behaviour are deployed [Korsch, H. J. and Jodl, H.-J. (1998).] [Gutzwiller, M. C. (1990).] [Szemplinska-Stupnicka, W. (2003).], it is worth searching for further simple mechanical systems which can be built easily and exhibit chaotic behaviour. The joint presentation of a real system and its mathematical model helps the students to understand effectively the intricate concepts and ideas used for the description of the physics of chaotic motion. In this paper besides the well-known forms of the chaotic motion the recently studied transient chaos which is exhibited in dissipative systems will be also demonstrated. It will be shown, that transient chaos is a good tool for the demonstration of the fractal geometry too.

The mechanical model

In the present paper the dynamic behaviour of a ball moving in a complex-shaped bowl will be studied. The shape of the bowl is defined by a height function z(x,y) of the points of the bowl [Tél, T., Gruiz, M. (2006)] [Márton, G., Tél, T. (2005)]. This function can be identified with the gravitational potential for the moving ball; therefore the equations of motion of the ball can be easily described. To approach the real motion the equations can be completed with a term of friction. If this term is zero, the motion is conservative; in other cases it is dissipative. It should be mentioned that if the z(x,y) function is given, then the bowl can be fabricated by a rapid prototyping procedure and the real motion of the ball can be also studied. The motion of a point-like body of unit mass which is moving in a V(x,y) potential field under the influence of friction which is proportional with the velocity can be described by: VV  x    x , y     y , (2.1) x  y

1 According to the authors Figures of high resolution are extremely important for the illustration of the results of the simulations. Unfortunately the size of the files submitted was limited, therefore the quality of Figures presented here is not good enough. A version of the paper with good quality Figures can be downloaded from: http://csodafizika.hu/ballinbowl/paper.pdf

where α is the coefficient of friction. If α=0 then the motion is conservative. Introducing the coordinates of the velocity as new variables, the equations can be transformed into the usual form:

x  f1  x,,, y u v  u   V  u  f2  x,,, y u v     u (2.2) x   y  f x,,, y u v  v Page | 263 3  V  v  f4  x,,, y u v     v  y  The motion was studied in three different shaped bowls that is in three different gravitational potential fields. The height functions of the bowls are (x, y and z are measured in cm): z x, y  V(x, y)  0.1  x2 + y 2  1 (2.3. a) z x, y  V(x, y)  0.1 x4 + y 4  0.5 x 2 y 2  4 x 2  4 y 2  0.5 xy  40 (2.3. b) z x, y  V(x, y)  104 x 4 + 9y 4  26 x 2 y 2  100 x 2  300 y 2  5000 (2.3. c)

Maple display Figure 1.(a) A bowl given by potential function (2.3.a) and a real bowl which is like the simulated one.

Maple display Figure 1.(b) A bowl given by potential function (2.3.b) and a real bowl which is like the simulated one.

Maple display Figure 1.(c) A bowl given by potential function (2.3.c) and a real bowl which is like the simulated one

It is important that while in case of the (2.3. a) potential the deepest point of the bowl is in its centre (x=0; y=0) in case of the other two potentials the deepest points of the bowls situate near the four peaks. The potential energy of the moving ball is the lowest at these points, therefore these are the stable equilibrium positions of the

ball. In case of potential function (2.3.b) these points are (x1=1.3038; y1=1.3038), (x2=1.2247; y2=-1.2247), (x3=- 1.3038; y3=-1.3038) and (x4=-1.2247; y4=1.2247), while in case of the bowl with height function they are (x1=0; y1=4.0825), (x2=0; y2=-4.0825), (x3=7.0711; y3=0) (x4=-7.0711; y4=0). The equations of motion can be easily solved with the Dynamics Solver [http://tp.lc.ehu.es/jma/ds/ds.html] program which is an ideal tool for the simulation of the dynamic systems. First the frictionless motion is presented. The total energy E for these motions is constant. The simplest case of the real motion if the ball is released from a point of the rim of the bowl without initial velocity (u0=v0=0). The results can be seen in Fig. Page | 264 2.(a)-2.(c).

Figure 2(a) Motion in potential (2.3. a), E=20 (x0=9; y0=10.95445).

Figure2.(b) Motion in potential (2.3.b), E=10 (x0=2; y0=3).

Figure 2.(c) Motion in potential (2.3.c), E=10 (x0=5; y0=9.2796).

In case of potential (2.3.a) a simple periodic motion is occurring, while in case of potentials (2.3.b), and (2.3.c) chaotic motion appears. Fig. 2.(b) and 2.(c) show that the envelope of the trajectories of the frictionless motion give back the shape of the bowls. In Fig. 3 the results of simulations of dissipative motion (α=0.005) in potential (2.3.c) with two different initial conditions can be seen.

(x0=4; y0=9.86) (x0=5; y0=9.2796)

Figure 3. Trajectories of frictional motion in potential (2.3.c).

It can be seen that trajectories (as it was expected) after some chaotic part tend to one minimum points of the potential well. Such type of behaviour is called transient chaos because the chaotic motion is interim and after it the motion becomes periodic or it stops. In our case the attractors where the motion ends up are the minimum points of the potential well. One of the most important feature of the chaotic motion is its extremal sensitivity to the initial conditions. This can be demonstrated very attractively with the so called spaghetti-plots. The diagram shows a characteristic of a system as a function of time when its motion is starting from nearby initial conditions. (In case of the ball Page | 265 moving in a bowl this characteristic can be a coordinate of the ball.) A typical spaghetti-plot is really similar to a torch light. The trajectories of the motion with slightly different initial conditions deviate soon strongly and the diagram shows that the motion of the ball totally unpredictable.

Figure 4. Spaghetti-plot with seven slightly different initial x0 (E=10, y0=5, v0=0).

In Fig. 4 the x coordinate of a ball which is moving in a bowl of potential (2.3.c) is plotted as a function of time at seven nearby initial conditions (x0=2.97, 2.98, 2.99, 3.00, 3.01, 3.02 and 3.03) The trajectories run together till the time t=50, but after it they strongly deviate. So this motion can be predicted only till this time. For longer periods only the probability that the ball comes to a small neighbourhood of a given point can be determined. However, the motion of the ball is conservative, so the possible values of the x coordinates are restricted by the parameter E (the total energy of the ball), therefore the torch does not open fully

Frictionless motion

The total energy of the moving ball is at any instant the sum of the kinetic and potential energy: 1 E x,,,, y u v  u2  v 2   V x y. (3.1) 2 To study chaotic dynamics the Poincare map is a very useful tool. A Poincare map can be interpreted as a discrete dynamical system with a state space that is one dimension smaller than the original continuous dynamical system. Although the phase space of the moving ball is a four dimension one (x,y,u,v) one can study the system and can get a good picture about its behaviour by the use of a two dimensional Poincare map. In the frictionless case there are no attractors the character of motion depends on the initial conditions. In order to get an overview of the system’s behaviour Poincare maps belonging to the same energy, but corresponding to different initial conditions should be plotted. From the four initial conditions (x0,y0,u0,v0) only three can be chosen freely, the fourth one are determined by the energy equation (3.1). Figure 5 shows the (x,y) Poincare map of the motion occurred in the bowl of potential (3.b) (simulations were made by dynamic solver.)

Figure 5. (x, y) Poincare map for motion in potential (3.b) (E=20).

It is a typical map for conservative chaos there are big fat fractal like areas with periodic isles in them. Similar plots can be obtained in the (x-u) and (y-v) Poincare maps.

Page | 266

Figure 6. (x-u) Poincaré map for motion in potential (3.b) (E=20).

Figure 7. (y-v) Poincaré map for motion in potential (3.b) (E=20)

Frictional motion

As it was mentioned earlier the ball comes to rest in a well near one peak of the bowl. In case of frictional motion the first period of the motion can exhibit transient chaos. In the following the structure of the basins of attraction for the motion occurring in bowl (in potentials) which can be seen in Figure 1(c) will be revealed. A basin of attraction is the set of the initial positions whence the orbits of the balls released with zero initial velocity tend to the same attractor. The potential characterising the bowl has four potential well which were determined earlier. In the maps of the figures shown below the potential wells were marked with different colours and their basins of attractions was painted by the same colour too. The colours belonging to the attractors (x1=0; y1=4.0825), (x2=0; y2=-4.0825), (x3=7.0711; y3=0), and (x4=-7.0711; y4=0) are red, green, blue and yellow, respectively. Figures show the structure of the basins developed if the friction coefficient was α=0.01. The sequence of pictures arranged alphabetically in the figures. Every picture consists of 500 500 points and in every one a small square is chosen at a boundary of either basins. Every member of the sequence of the pictures shows the ten times magnified image of the square marked in the preceding picture. As it can be expected the boundaries of the basins exhibit fractal structure. The boundaries of these basins show fractal geometry which can be described by a very complicated structure like a Cantor set. In other words, whenever two basins seem to meet, we discover upon closer examination that a third basin is there in between them, and so ad infinitum.

In table1the fractal dimension of boundaries between the attraction basins shown in Figure 8.(c) and Figure 9.(c) are given as a function of the magnification.

Page | 267

(a) x, y   10;10 (b) x 6;  4 , y   4;  2

(c) x 5;  4.8 , y   3.6;  3.4 (d) x 4.86;  4.84 , y   3.56;  3.54 Figure 8. Basins of attraction for the bowl of potential (2.3.c) (Friction coefficient:   0,01, resolution:500 500 initial velocity: 0).

(a) x, y   10;10 (b) x 6;  4 , y   6;  4

(c) x 5.6;  5.4 , y   4.8;  4.6 (d) x 5.48;  5.46 , y   4.7;  4.68 Figure 9. Basins of attraction for the bowl of potential (2.3.c) (Friction coefficient:   0,01, resolution:500 500 initial velocity: 0).

Table 1. Fractal dimension of boundaries between the attraction basins are given as a function of the magnification

x 5;  4.8 , y   3.6;  3.4 x 5.6;  5.4 , y   4.8;  4.6 50 50 1.30 1.55 100 100 1.26 1.51 200 200 1.23 1.44 Page | 268 400 400 1.19 1.33 800 800 1.16 1.29

The study of transient chaos can be a very important didactic tool in the demonstration of fractal geometry [Ying-Cheng, L., Tél, T. (2011).]. Generally fractals appear in the phase space of the chaotic systems. Fractals in an abstract space are sometimes not expressive and meaningful to students. In contrast to this the attraction basins of the attractors of transient chaos exhibit in the real space, so students can understand the properties of the fractals a more suggestively in the real geometric space. The development of the fractal boundaries are illustrated well by the video [http://indavideo.hu/video/Magneses_inga_fraktal_vonzasi_tartomanyai] showing the real and simulated motion of a magnetic pendulum. The fractal basin boundaries have shown irregular behaviour: in this case the classical parameters used to describe chaos became time dependent and the structure of the basins was not fully invariant upon magnification. The measured dimension of the basin boundaries can be non-integer over all finite scales, but have asymptotic fractal co-dimension: one. This phenomenon is recently referred as doubly transient chaos [Motter, A. E., Gruiz, M., Karolyi, Gy., Tel, T. (2013).]. In case of higher friction the picture of the attraction basins is slightly different from the previous one (Figure 10).

(a) x 11;11 , y   8;8 (b) x8,25;11 , y  6;8

(c) 42  402   13 14  x10 ;11  , y  7.25;7.5 (d) x10 ;11 , y  7 ;7 64  512   32 32  Figure 10. Basins of attraction for the bowl of potential (2.3.c) (Friction coefficient: 0.05, resolution: 550 400 initial velocity: 0).

References Gutzwiller, M. C. (1990). Chaos in Classical and Quantum Mechanics, Berlin, Springer Korsch, H. J. and Jodl, H.-J. (1998). Chaos – A Program Collection for the PC, Berlin, Springer Márton, G., Tél, T. (2005). A káosz, Fizikai Szemle 2005./5. Motter, A. E., Gruiz, M., Karolyi, Gy., Tel, T. (2013). Doubly Transient Chaos: The Generic Form of Chaos in Autonomous Dissipative Systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 194101 Szemplinska-Stupnicka, W. (2003). Chaos, Bifurcations and Fractals Around Us., Singapore: World Scientific

Tél, T., Gruiz, M. (2006). Chaotic Dynamics, An introduction based on classical mechanics, Cambridge Uniersity Press, Cambridge Ying-Cheng, L., Tél, T. (2011). Transient Chaos, Springer, New York

Affiliation and address information Péter Nagy Péter Tasnádi Department of Natural Science and Science of Technical Basics Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences Page | 269 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation Department of Meteorology Kecskemét College Eötvös Loránd University Izsáki út 10. Pázmány P. sétány 1./A. H-6000 Kecskemét, Hungary H-1117 Budapest, Hungary e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

From Galileo’s Clepsydra to Webcamera: Methods of Tracing of Motion in Teaching Physics

Zsanett Finta Physics Education PhD Program Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary MSc, teacher of mathematics and physics, Szombathelyi Nagy Lajos Gimnázium, Szombathely, Dózsa Page | 270 György utca 4, 9700

Abstract In physics curriculum kinematics has a great importance. In most cases students are introduced into the quantitative analysis of a natural process with the help of this topic. Generally our students perceive through the study of kinematics at first time how observation, experimentation, measuring, concepts and theories are based upon each other. It is a matter of vital importance that this process should be based on convincing and well- repeated measuring. It is not an easy experimental task to define the position of a moving object in a coordinate system. However, the ways and methods we can apply for doing it have improved in the course of time. Computer controlled measurements and new measuring methods based on laser technology, ultrasound (V-SCOPE), GPS and videotechniques (Videopoint, Webcam-laboratories) have made highly easier the teachers‘ work. The main goal of the present poster is to give a summary of the methods of motion tracking and kinematical measurements which can be used adequately in high schools. The methods and devices available at this field are very numerous therefore the presentation should be restricted according to the point of view of didactic value.

Keywords Teaching of physics, kinematics, measuring, experiment, student-friendly methods, state-of-the-art technology.

Introduction

It is an empirically supported fact that the role of the experimentation is of utmost importance in teaching physics. [4] What the students see with their own eyes is likely to be better retained in the mind, and they could more easily recall later and associate with other phenomena. In physics the experiments could be regarded the “engine” of the research, and they are maybe the most important tools of teaching physics too. Demonstration experiments which are presented by the teacher and experiments carried out by the students themselves or in small groups are equally important. However, the latter forms ensure that students do not be a mere observer of the experimentation, but do participate actively in it. The own made experiments and measurements allow students to obtain their basic scientific knowledge through the researcher’s way. These experiments and measurements deepen their knowledge while their practical skills are also developed. [1] In teaching of physics, kinematics is an essential material, it is the basis of the mechanics. In most cases students are introduced into the quantitative analysis of a natural process with the help of this topic. Generally our students perceive through the study of kinematics at first time how observation, experimentation, measuring, concepts and theories are based upon each other. It is a matter of vital importance that this process should be based on convincing and well-repeated measuring. However, to determine the exact position of a moving extended object in a given coordinate system as a function of time isn’t an easy experimental task. Such methods are generally known as methods of tracing of motion. The rapid development of technology and the turn-out of computers have made fundamental changes in this area. Besides the classic methods - such as electrostatic track recording, stroboscopy, photo gates with picket fences mounted to carts etc.– new modern techniques, such as laser and sonar based distance detection (e.g. V-Scope), the GPS and procedures based on video technology (e.g. Videopoint, Webcam Laboratory) and smartphones have also appeared. [2] The modern technology has a right place in the physics classes of the high school, however, only when the students have mastered the classical procedures, analysed and plotted different graphs, and performed calculations. It would be a mistake to divest our students of this experience and of its difficulties. If they can see that they draw a simple distance-time graph with their own hand which normally takes lots of minutes, they will appreciate that it’s only a few seconds for a computer program. But the use of computer programs makes only sense, if the students understand exactly how the program works and calculates. Therefore we should see, if we switch to the modern procedures without the knowledge of the measurement principle of the classic methods, the procedure loses its physical content. However, the use of the computers can motivate students to learn physics.

Similarly, we can activate all students by the analysis of different Internet videos. We can carry out kinematic calculations on the basis of downloading videos from a sharing site, eg. we can analyse a drag race, where the rider uses a head mounted camera, which shows the current speed value. First, let’s look at the classic methods. The first and maybe the best known experiment is connected to the name of Galileo Galilei, who rolled a brass ball down an inclined plane and measured the elapsed time with a water clock (clepsydra). From this data he concluded to the time squared law of the distance covered. [3] Page | 271

Figure 1. The scheme of the experiment.

Powder tracing uses the ridges appearing in the sulphur powder on an insulated electrode due to the attracting and repelling effect of the AC voltage. The phenomena can be explained by the electric field as if „sniffs up” the negatively charged sulphur powder to the slider or stalls off to the aluminium sheet. [2]

Figure 2. The track of the small cart.

The air cushion table is suitable for the study of the frictionless motion in the plane. The device is a flat box,a compressor is connected to one side of the box, and auger-holes fall in line on the top. The air cushion table can be used to study a wide a variety of motion e. g. motion with constant velocity, motion with constant acceleration, elastic and inelastic collisions, rotational motion, the law of conservation of the linear momentum, motion of a dumbbell model and Newton's laws of motion. [2]

Figure 3. The air cushion table.

We can use photo gates in kinematics measurments also, for example a small cart with a picket fence on it moves on a slope and goes through the gate. It is especially appropriate for displacement-time data collection taken from a moving object if the goal is the determination of the velocity- time and acceleration-time function. The results can be easily plotted. The U-shaped device consists of two main parts: of a light-emitter and a photoreceptor. The transmitter is an infra-LED, and the receiver is mainly an infra-red light-sensitized phototransistor. If the path of the light is free, the transistor is conducting, otherwise the switch closes up. When

the passing object between the transmitter and the sensor cuts off the path of the light, the receiver gives a signal to the interface. [2] [6]

Page | 272

Figure 4. Measurement with photo gate sensor.

Now let’s look at the modern procedures. We often use the sonar or laser distance measuring devices to replace the traditional ruler or measuring tape. Measuring the time between the emission and detection of the soundit is possible to determine the position of the target.

Figure 5. The KINZO ultrasound generator.

The V-Scope allows three-dimensional tracking of motion, based on a sonar positioning system. The measured data are recorded on a computer and the various kinematic characteristics can be plotted with it. The principle of the operation of the V-Scope is similar to that of the GPS, but it works with ultrasound instead of electromagnetic waves.

Figure 6. Investigation of circular motion using V-Scope.

The GPS-based positioning method is based on simple trigonometry, although the details of its error reducing procedures are relatively complicated. Since the velocity of propagation of radio waves is known and and the emission and detection time of the satellite signals can be determined, the distance between the receiver and the source of the signal can be also determined. The MyTracks is a free for android phones developed by Google. While recording the data through a map we can follow the track where we are moving right now. A variety of free and paid programs are available for processing data.

The Webcam Laboratory software makes possible for students to make observations very easily by the use only an ordinary webcamera. The main advantage of the program is that it does not need any other special accessories. The program have a lot of functions, for example microscope or universal logger. [2]

These tools are appropriate for both individual and team work of students. The graphs assessment each student should be carried out alone. In case of appropriate managing of the classroom work more than one devices can be tested in an only lecture. Measurements are particularly suitable for working in special student workshops or advanced level classes.

Page | 273

Figure 7. Investigation of an oscillating object with the Webcam Laboratory software.

Almost every student has a smartphone, and these devices are an integral part of their daily lives. We know, the children are growing up with these technologies and we should regard them as part of their reality. We have to point out that their smartphones are more than an opportunity to be actively involved in social networks. Smartphone includes a number of sensors and the data received form the installed software can be used in the place of various physics laboratory instruments. Like in physics – smartphones can be used in other subjects as well – they can be applied as tools. [5] Nowadays, most lessons start with the ever so familiar sentence: “Put your cell phones away please”. Imagine the students’ surprise if they were asked to take their phones and download an application completely legally. The fact, that it is something new and unexpected generates motivation among students. The habit of using such unorthodox methods sheds light on the fact that the study of Physics can be much more than doing boring calculations and learning laws of nature and relations. With some game-like applications students can make use of their learnt knowledge. In case a school is not well-equipped with instruments used in experiments, the study of kinematics can be lumpy and insipid. The experiments will be limited to presenting the mykola tube and Galilei’s so called slope experiment. Below, a possible use of smartphones on the lesson will be described. The students can examine the uniform circular motion in its real environment in the course of a lesson. A demo of a small scale acceleration can be performed in the classroom by using a record player (30 cm in diameter). We can use the Accelerometer Monitor android apps, but quite a large number of other applications related to kinematic measurements can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge. The sensor provides the values of acceleration along the three axes.

Figure 8. The record player with the smartphone.

If we know the number of rotation, we can specify the angular speed ω. The distance R of the revolving sensor from a central axis can be calculated: The following calculation present the measurements made on a lesson.

= 45 = 0,75 = 2 = 4,71 (1) , = = = 0,056 m = 5,6 cm (2) (,)

Apart form the uniform circular motion, we can examine damped oscillation or pendulum and carry out a lot of measurement: localise the phone acceleration sensor, determination of the spring constant and the damping characteristics, definition of inertia, determination of resonant frequency and acceleration due to gravity.

After completing the study of kinematics, the students’ enthusiasm was unbroken so they carried on volume measurements and examined different light phenomena by using different censors on their cell phones. These measurements will help them understand the study of optics.

Page | 274

Figure 9. Acceleration-time graph of the damped oscillation.

The students’ measurements were first presented at the so-called ’Kísérletbazár’ (Experiment Workshop), organized by the Mobilis Science Centre, where their project was awarded with two prizes. They have also been invited to different conferences and scientific events. Furthermore, their experiments have been recorded on television.

Conclusions

The modern technology has a right place in the physics classes at high schools, only if the students have mastered the classical procedures, analysed and plotted different graphs, and performed calculations. It would be a mistake to deprive our students of this experience and of its difficulties. If they can see how long it takes to draw a simple distance-time graph with their own hands, they will appreciate that it’s only a few seconds for a computer program. But the use of computer programs only make sense if the students understand exactly how the program works and calculates. Therefore we should see, if we switch to the modern procedures without the knowledge of the measurement principle of the classic methods, the procedure loses its physical content. However, with no theoretical knowledge in the field, all of the above methods may be regarded as simple PC- and/or telephone assissted games.

References 1. Radnóti, K., Nahalka, I. (2002). The pedagogy of teaching physics (in Hungarian), National Textbook Publisher, Budapest, Hungary 2. Finta, Zs. (2013). Methods of tracing of motion in physics experiments, MSc thesis (in Hungarian), Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary 3. Clanel, C. (2000). Clepsydrae, from Galilei to Torricelli, Physics of fluids, Volume 12, Number 11. 4. Sinatra, G. M., & Pintrich, P. R. (2003) International conceptual change, Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum 5. Oprea, M., Miron, C. (2013). Mobile phones in the modern teaching of physics, Romanian Reports in Physics, Volume 66, Number 4, 2014 6. Galeriu, C. (2013). An Arduino-Controlled Photogate, The Physics Teacher 51, 156

Affiliation and address information Zsanett Finta Physics Education PhD Program Eötvös University Pázmány Péter sétány 1117 Budapest Hungary e-mail: [email protected]

Strategies of Students to Solve Physics Problems with Unreasonable Results

Alejandro González y Hernández,1, Josip Sliško 2 1Deparment of Physics, Science Faculty, Av. Universidad Nº 3000, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.U., Distrito Federal, 04510. México D. F., México. 2Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Calle 4 Sur Page | 275 104, Centro Histórico, 72000 Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Pue., México.

Abstract Along with critical and creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills are among most important 21st century competences. Being so, physics teaching should give students multiple opportunities to identify, practice and improve those skills, especially in physics problem solving domain. Namely, problem solving is consider both as an adequate learning practice and the best mean to evaluate learning results. Nevertheless, it is widely known that students, both in algebra-based high school and college physics courses, have several difficulties related with problem solving tasks. One of these difficulties is that students are able, using memorized algorithmic procedure, to get problem solutions, but fail to give any physical meaning to these solutions. In other words, students are commonly unable to interpret correctly physical significance of the calculated value of sought quantities. A possible strategy to identify which are the difficulties that students have in giving physical meaning to the calculated solutions of problems is to use problems with unreasonable results. In the physics textbook, written by Urone, these uncommonly formulated problems were presented at the end of each chapters of the book. This kind of problems are similar to any others problems, with solutions that are given with direct applications of formulas of theory as any other problem, but whose results have not a correct physical meaning. A solver must interpret the physical meaning of solution of the problem for detection of the unreasonable result. In the case that the solver realizes of the incorrect result, he must find the wrong premises that give that unreasonable result and in our research, we ask to solvers to propose correct premises, which bring us to good solution. We report some results of a study in which “problems with unreasonable results” were given to (a) high-school students that participated in the national competition to form Mexican team for Physics Olympiad and (b) students who studied physics in the first year of university. We wanted to investigate students’ solution strategies to compare them with the solution strategies used by physics teachers, who are considered as experts in problem solving. As an example, we present and analyse the strategies used by students in a problem of mechanics where the negative sign of the numerical result may lead to a wrong interpretation of the problem situation. Students were asked to declare if they find the result unreasonable, in the case of affirmative answer, they must identify the wrong data and then do a new supposition in the problem formulation to correct it. In this paper, our research shows the comparison between strategies of students (novices) and teachers (experts) in solution of two problems of Urone´s textbook.

Keywords Physics textbooks, physics problems with unreasonable results, students’ problem solving strategies, wrong detections.

Introduction

Developing of problem solving skills in physics students is a powerful strategy of teaching to help students achieve a deep understanding of physics. Many physics problems are found at the end of each chapter of physics textbooks, also at beginning of the textbook it is included a problem solving strategy to guide students for a successful problem solving. However, a result of researching for problem solving ability in physics is the fact that there is a significant difference in strategies used by experts and students. The question is: Are there any type of tasks that can be done to improve the problem solving skills of students? As an answer of this question, several physics problems have been designed in different kinds of approach, including those with greater or lesser engagement and prior knowledge of students to solve problems. These problem designs go from a fully specified problem situation as numerical problems with all the necessary numerical data to be inserted into a formula to give an accurate result to those unspecified problem situations in which numerical data are completely omitted. A third type of problems are the partially specified problems, which lies between the standard and radical formulations. This kind of problems contain some physical values[1].

Theoretical framework

During the past few years cognitive research studies have provided detailed knowledge concerning the differences between experts and novices, and as a result we can begin to speculate on ways of making the transition from novice to expert more efficient [3]. An essential difference between experts and novices involves the structure of domain specific knowledge. This difference in knowledge structure appears to be important in Page | 276 solving typical university-level physics problems. Experts, who typically can solve such problems easily and successfully, approach these problems in a manner that is quite different from that of the typical novice. Experts categorize such problems according to the appropriate fundamental principles required in the solution of the problems and they use a working forward approach. Novices tend to categorize problems on the basis of superficial features, with little or no activation of fundamental principles. They also tend to use a working backward approach that involves the use of specific formulas or algorithmic procedures with little understanding. Experts check whether the final solution of a problem makes sense in the context of real world’s physics. Novices are worried for if a numerical solution matches with the result that it is given for odd problems at the end of textbooks, regardless any physical meaning of the result.

Strategies for problem solving

For problem solving, there are so many different strategies and few are supported by research evidence, the question is: Is it useful to have a strategy to solve problems? On the one hand, some authors avoid providing a strategy; they prefer to use the word heuristics, because some suggest that using a strategy is not useful because the strategy means a linearity that is not typical of the actions successful problem solvers. On the other hand, using a strategy has been proven effective: 1. Researchers analysing protocols of successful problem solvers (the so-called novice versus expert evidence) identify stages that show natural breaks corresponding to the “stages” in the problem solving process. 2. Using a strategy as an intervention for developing student’s problem solving skills. Data show that those receiving practice for applying a strategy outperform students who did not receive such an experience[5].

Objectives

The main goal in our research was to provide problems in such a way that evaluation of the result is a necessary step in reaching the final answer. From this point of view, learners are encouraged to make decisions about what should be calculated in order to judge the reality of problematic situations and their solutions. In the sense of partially specified problems, we found in this category the “unreasonable result problems” that are promoted by Urone et al. For them, these type of problems are designed to further emphasize that properly applied physics must describe nature accurately and is not a simple the process of solving equations.

The research

To research the scope of unreasonable result problems, we selected nine problems of Urone’s textbook and we applied these problems of unreasonable results to 32 students of high school that participated in the national competition of Physics Olympiad in Mexico, 35 physics students of first year of university and 19 physics teachers. In this study, we analyse two of these problems. The goal was to research solving strategies of student and to compare them with the solving strategies of physics teachers, who were considered as experts in this study.

Methodology

The methodology consists in:

A. An expert (a teacher) solved the problems of Urone as a control test. B. Only the correct solutions of problems solved were analysed. C. The same questionnaires were applied to teachers and students. D. This allowed the exploration of strategies that were used by teachers and students when they solved the problems. E. The analysis was made how the solvers found which results are unreasonable and premises are wrong.

Experts’ solutions for a first problem 4.69 (a) What is the final velocity of a car originally traveling at 50.0 km/h that decelerates at a rate of 0.400 m/s2 for 50.0 s? (b) What is unreasonable about the result (c) Which premise is unreasonable or which premises are inconsistent? (Urone, p. 115).

Answer of teacher 1:

Page | 277 Solution: Data: = 50.0 km/h = 13.9 m/s; a = −0.400 m/ ; Δ = 50.0

Unknown: Final velocity . Conceptual physics: Kinematics: Motion with constant acceleration. = ? = 13.9 /

= −0.400 Figure 1. Drawing of physical situation/ of the problem. A car reduces its velocity from to , ¿which is the value of ?

Mathematical model: = + ∆

Result: = (13.9 /) + (−0.400 / )(50.0 ) = −6.1 /

Checking the solution: = ∆/∆ = (−6.1 − 13.9)/50.0 = −0.400 /

Analysis of the results: When a car is braking in a horizontal plane, the car stops upon reaching zero speed, that is, only can be larger or equal to zero, but a negative speed indicates the car back after stopping. This cannot happen in this case.

Unreasonable premise: Because + ∆ ≥ 0, there are three cases: ≥ −∆; ≥ −/∆; ∆ ≤ −/. In these cases, we obtain: ≥ 20 / = 72 /ℎ; ≥ −0.28 / ; ∆ ≤ 35 .

Conclusion: Any of these premises can be wrong:

= 50.0 /ℎ < 72 /ℎ or = − 0.400 / < −0.28 /; or ∆ = 50.0 > 35 .

Answer of teacher 2:

Solution:

50.0 /ℎ = 14 /; ∆ = 0.4 × 50 = 20 /; = −6 / = −22 /ℎ, an unreasonable result.

Recommendation: To make this result reasonable, we assume that the car goes up a hill with the engine off and no brakes actuated. Then the car reaches the zero speed and begins to descend the hill until to reach 22 km/h of speed.

Discussion for the teachers’ answers: The first teacher found that the solution is good only if the final velocity is zero and he gives an answer with a complete analysis with all the cases that can occur to obtain an unreasonable result, adding limit numerical values for all the parameters that can be changed. The second teacher gives a short answer but correct. He supposes that the premises given can be true if we think in a car climbing a slope with engine and brakes off. When the car reaches the zero speed, it descends until to reach a speed of 22 km/h. This

answer is a new and creative focus to look the problem, because this teacher sees an alternative situation which could be valid without any change of parameters.

Students’ solution for the same problem Answer of student 1.

Page | 278 Solution: = 50.0 /ℎ = 13.888 /; = −0.400 / ; = 50 . = + = −6.1 m/s

The result is unreasonable, because the acceleration is negative, opposite to the motion and after a time the car change its direction in the same sense of the acceleration.

Recommendation: If v = 0, the time will be t = -v/a = 34.72 s (the maximum value of ) if = −0.400 / . On the other hand, when = 0 and = 50 , = −/ = −0.28 / , that is the minimum value of acceleration.

Answer of student 2. Solution: = 50.0 /ℎ = 13.88 / = 125/9 /; = −0.400 / ; = 50 . = + = −6.1 m/s

The unreasonable result is that the velocity is negative, that is, the movement of the car is on the opposite direction of initial velocity. The time that was given me, it is a value greater of the value needed to stop the car. For this reason, an acceleration appears in the opposite direction.

Discussion for the students’ answers: The recommendations of first student is similar as the first teacher that was analysed above, because he discussed two of the three cases analysed by the teacher and the second student found the negative velocity as an unreasonable result because he realized that the final movement is opposite to the initial movement and this result is wrong because the time given is greater that the time needed to stop the car. However, this student did not give a specific recommendation to correct this wrong result.

Experts’ solution for the second problem 7.59 A 1000 kg car moving at 30.0 m/s hits a padded barricade at a freeway off-ramp. The barricade is designed to bring the car to stop more gently that a concrete wall and exerts a 200 N force on the car. (a) Calculate the duration ∆ of the collision. (b) What is unreasonable about this result? (c) Which premise is unreasonable? (Urone, p. 193).

Answer of teacher 1: Solution:

Data: = 1000 ; = 30.0 /; = 0 /; = −200 Unknown: ∆ duration of collision. Conceptual physics: Impulse-Momentum principle Mathematical model: ∆ = ∆ Result: ∆ = 1000 (0 / − 30.0 /)/−200 = 150

∆ = 30.0 / = ?

Figure 2. Drawing of physical situation of the problem. A car collides against a padded barricade with a speed , what is the time of collision?

Checking the solution: ∆ = −200 150 = 30 000 ; ∆ = 1000 (0 / − 30.0 /) = 30 000 Ns.

Analysis of results: If duration time is 150 , then:

= / = −200 /1000 = − 0.200 / and the distance of braking is ∆ = 2.25 , that is an unreasonable result.

Unreasonable premise: A car with a mass of 1000 and a speed of 30.0 / or 108 /ℎ are reasonable premises, because a force of −200 is too small. Human tolerance in a real collision of a car against a wall is 50 g’s or a force of 50(1000 )(9.8 /) = Page | 279 490 000 . In this case, ∆ = 0.06 and ∆ = 0.9 , a more reasonable result.

Conclusion: The premise of − 200 on the car is wrong.

Answer of teacher 2: Solution: ∆ = ∆; ∆ = 150 , 2 ½ !. ∆ = × 150 = 2.25 . It is an unreasonable result.

Recommendation: The result can have sense if instead, the barricade, we suppose that the car is with no brakes and there is a slope for stopping the car.

Discussion for the teachers’ answers: Both teachers used the impulse-momentum principle to find the time of interaction (150 s = ¡2.5 min!) between the car and the padded barricade, and then, they also calculated the displacement to stop the car during the time collision (¡2.25 km!). But for the first teacher, he found the force on the car as a mistake and gave a new value to this force by supposing that in a collision as in this problem, the g- force can reach a value of 50g or 4.9 x 105 N and in this case, the collision time is 0.06 s and the stopping displacement is only 0.9 m, a reasonable result, by the other side, the second teacher accepted the interaction force of -200 N as correct, but he changed the padded barricade down a slope and supposed that the car goes without brakes. In this case, the results of 2.5 min for the collision time and 2.5 km to stop the car were reasonable for him

Students’ solution for the second problem Answer of Olympic physics student 1:

Solution:

If = 1500 (the mass was changed!) then = – , and = −(1500)(30)/(−200 ) = 225

This does not happen in real life, because the mass is wrong, the force be greater. If the force is 90 000 the time is 0.5 .

Answer of Olympic physics student 2: Solution:

Be m = 1000 kg, = 30.0 / and F = 200 N . Then

Δ = Δ and

Δ = ( − )/ = − = −(1000 )(30 /)/200 = −150 The unreasonable result is due to minus sign in the interval of time Δ . Besides, the time to stop is very long.

Recommendation: Because the force F = 200 N is very small, that force stops the car as slow as possible. To avoid this, I would increase the value of the force.

Answer of Olympic physics student 3:

= = Δ

The barricade provides an impulse on the car to stop it by applying a force during a certain time. This force must be considered negative, because it is applied in a opposite sense to movement, but if the force is positive, then v0 must be considered negative, because if vf would have a value (different of zero), that value must be positive (after the collision), due to the sense of the force. Then, depending of the frame of reference (the barricade approaching to the car or the car to the barricade), we have:

= Δ/ = − / Page | 280 or = −(1000 )(30 /)/(−200 ) = −(1000 )(−30 /)/(200 ) = 150 = 2.5

Recommendation: For me, there is not an unreasonable premise, even though the collision time looks long, but it must be necessary to stop the car.

Note: the cursive letter is mine.

Discussion for the students’ answers: All students applied the Impulse-Momentum principle to find the collision time, but each gave different interpretations to the result. The first student said that force of 200 N was not real, because the mass is wrong (he mistakes the force by the mass), and then, he changes the value of mass from 1000 kg to 1500 kg, to obtain a collision time from 150 s to 225 s (maybe, he considers, if the mass increases, the time also increases, but that is not real). Then, without any justification, he proposed to consider the value of force as 90,000 N, because in this case, the collision time would be 0.5 s, for him a reasonable result. The second student could not identify the negative sign of the interaction force and calculated a negative collision time that he interpreted as a wrong result but he did not investigate why the sign was wrong. Without consider this mistake as important, he said that the time to stop the car is very long and recommended to increase the value of the force to avoid this long time. On the contrary, the third student is interested by the sign of the force or of the initial velocity. He realized that the force and the initial velocity have opposite signs, that is, if the sign of the force is negative, the sign of the initial velocity must be positive and vice versa. However, he confuses the contrary signs with the observation of the collision from two different frames of reference, one located in the car and the other located in the barricade. Even more, for this student, the collision time of 150 s is not an unreasonable result, because he considered that is necessary this time to stop the car, but he did not calculate the distance for stopping the car.

Analysis

Generally, neither teachers nor students made a drawing representing the physical condition given in the problem and when they made a design, it was very simple. The mathematical model was always written and was always applied to data of the problem to get a result. However, in the cases discussed in this paper, the analysis of the results obtained by the solvers is different. For the first problem, we have examined four answers (two of teachers and two of students). They gave the same result and interpretation (the final velocity is -6.1 m/s, but it cannot negative), but they found four different ways to obtain a reasonable result: (1) The first teacher gave complete alternatives to obtain a reasonable result (because there are three parameters in this problem, all of them have limit values to be valid and the teacher found this limit values), (2) The second teacher accepted the result of a negative final velocity, but he changed the statement of the problem (instead to consider a car braking in an horizontal plane, he considered a car climbing a slope without brakes, in this case, the negative final velocity is reasonable), (3) The first student found two of the alternatives given by the first teacher, and (4) the second student did not give any recommendation For the second problem, we have examined five answers (two of previous teachers and three of students). The premise wrong in this problem is the very small interaction force exerted by the padded barricade on the car, but this is not a familiar case to solvers. All of them used the Impulse-Momentum principle and realized that the interaction force is very small, but they gave five different reasons to explain the unreasonable result. (1) The first teacher found 150 s as collision time and a distance to stop the car of 2.25 km (very long time and a very large distance) with -200 N as interaction force (with negative sign). He realized that this force was very small because he supposed that in a collision of a car with a padded barricade was more that 50g or 490 000 N, and in this case the collision time low to 0.06 s, a reasonable time,

(2) The second teacher found the same results as the first teacher, but as in the previous problem, he accepted these results, but changed the statement of the problem (instead a collision with a barricade, he supposed a car without brakes and a braking slope of 2.5 km of longitude, in this case, 150 s to stop the car is reasonable. (3) The first student confused the small force of interaction with very large mass (¿force as inertia?), and he increased the value of the mass intentionally to show how the time also increases. However, he changed the value of force to 90 000 N (with no justification) to reduce the time to 0.5 s, that is a reasonable result, (4) The second student did not realize of the negative sign of the force and obtained a negative collision time of - Page | 281 150 s. He supposed that this negative time was wrong, but he could not give an explanation for this result. But by skipping this problem, he considered that the collision time was very long and the interaction force of 200 N was very small and to improve the result, he would increase the value of the force, and (5) The third student was interested in the negative sign of the problem and found that the interactive force and the initial velocity must have opposite signs, or the force was negative and the initial velocity positive or vice versa, in both cases, the collision time was 150 s. But, he did not give an explanation how to change the premises of the problem to obtain a reasonable result of interaction time.

Results

To evaluate the strategies followed by solvers, we divided these strategies in five categories: strategy of inadequate interpretation, strategy of uncritical acceptance, basic strategy, intermediate strategy and upper strategy. In Table 1, each category is explained. Table 1. Strategy of inadequate interpretation: The strategy is inadequate to reach the solution of the problem. Strategy of uncritical acceptance: The strategy is good for reaching the solution of the problem, but there is not any discussion of the solution. Basic strategy: The strategy reaches a solution of the problem, but the interpretation of solution is elemental and not always correct. Intermediate strategy: The strategy reaches a solution of the problem and its interpretation is correct, but the proposal to change the solution from a unreasonable result to a reasonable result is elemental or it is not a good proposal. Upper strategy. The strategy reaches a solution of the problem and a good interpretation of solution, and there are a good and sometimes excellent proposal to change the solution from an unreasonable result to reasonable results.

With these categories applied to strategies of solvers of our sample, we obtained the results shown in Figure 1. 35 30 25 20 % 15 10 5 0

Figure 1. Histogram of the results of application of nine problems of the Urone's textbook to a sample of 86 solvers.

The percentages of each level were: strategy of inadequate interpretation (21%), strategy of uncritical acceptance (32%), basic strategy (21%), intermediate strategy (10%) and upper strategy (16%).

Conclusions

The two problems in this study with a unreasonable result are problems no so difficult to students, all of them found the same solution. However, the interpretation of the unreasonable results was different. Teachers gave us deeper solutions, then the Olympic physics students and at last students of first year of physics. In solving problems with unreasonable results, when the solvers are conscious of the mistakes of premises, the Page | 282 solvers can elaborate a wider physics analysis to make corrections of these premises. In Urone’s case, the problems were transformed from specified problems to unspecified problems and physics understanding is improved. The minus sign in the acceleration of first problem or the minus sign of the force of second problem, for some students were a difficulty, because they took it as a plus sign and if the results were wrong, they did not care of this. In general, teachers or students did not make any picture of the physical situation. The kinematics problem was more understandable that the problem of Impulse-Momentum principle, because solvers are more familiar with kinematics problems that problems where there is a force of interaction that is not very well known, and in this case, students have more difficulties to understand the problem and to find how to make reasonable the result. The discussion of the two problems in this paper is only a sample of the investigation made with nine problems of Urone’s textbook. The results of our complete investigation are given in Figure 1, under five categories given of Table I. Because the solvers selected to this investigation were advanced physics students or physics teachers, in order that they could get correct answers and give good interpretations for unreasonable results, the performance of the sample in this investigation was high, as is shown in histogram of Figure 1. However, in the sample of 68 solvers, we had 14 solvers in the first category, in the second 22, in the third 14, in the fourth 7, and in the fifth category 11 solvers, that is, 53 % in the two more elemental categories, and 47 % in the advanced categories. This result indicates that the physics problems with unreasonable result are complex to be solve because the solvers need give meaning to the result and extend it to a correct situation that require many times the exercise of advanced thinking skills. But this kind of problems is an opportunity for teachers to explore which are the problems presented in students to solve them and for the students to test their physics knowledge and their skills of thinking to apply this knowledge.

References [1] Erceg, N., Marušić, M. Sliško, J. Students’ strategies for solving partially specified physics problems. Revista Mexicana de Física E 57 (1) 44–50, 2011 [2] Urone, P., P. College Physics. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, U-S-A. 1998. [3] Mestre, J., P., Dufresne, R., J., Gerace, W., J., and Hardiman, P., T. Promoting Skilled Problem-Solving Behavior among Beginning Physics Students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Vol. 30, No. 3, 303-317 (1993). [4] Zajchowski, R. Differences in the Problem Solving of Stronger and Weaker Novices in Physics: Knowledge, Strategies, or Knowledge Structure? Journal of Research in Science Teaching Vol.30, no. 5 , 459-470 (1993). [5] Woods, D., R. An Evidence-Based Strategy for Problem Solving. Journal of Engineering Education, 443 - 459, 2000.

Affiliation and address information Alejandro González y Hernández Facultad de Ciencias Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México e-mail: [email protected]

Examples of Best Practice for Cross-Age Peer Tutoring in Physics

Marianne Korner, Martin Hopf University of Vienna, Austrian Educational Competence Centre Physics, Austria Abstract Page | 283 The present study aims to get insights into improving physics teaching and learning by developing and evaluating a well defined constructivist orientated learning methodology – cross-age peer tutoring. Here, older students work together with younger ones and thus improving their own skills. Nine classes underwent a cross- age peer tutoring process in the context of electricity and optics. Their knowledge development was quantified in a pretest-posttest-follow-up test design. The overall results show an enhancement in knowledge with sufficient effect sizes between 0.49 and 0.62 for all students. Follow-up tests revealed sufficient persistence. This underpins the practical applicability of this teaching method. Classes perform differently due to a varying makeup as the language of instruction may not be the students’ first language.

Keywords Cross-age peer tutoring, electricity, optics, tutors, tutees

Introduction

Peer Tutoring is an interesting and powerful approach to teaching where students work together with students and thus improve their own learning. As we know from literature, it has been tested with promising outcomes in various contexts such as reading, remedial math or computer literacy (Cohen, Kulik, & Kulik, 1982; Fogarty & Wang, 1982; Robinson, Schofield, & Steers-Wentzell, 2005). Concerning the field of science teaching, further studies (Howe, Tolmie, Greer, & Mackenzie, 1995; Lumpe & Staver, 1995) also reveal encouraging results. Hattie (2009) finds peer tutoring overalls effect sizes of d=0.55, which he considers to be in the zone of desired effects. The success of peer tutoring is considered to be based on a moderate age gap and the resulting emotional and language nearness (Fogarty & Wang, 1982). Both, those who tutor and those who are being tutored, benefit from peer tutoring in terms of attitudinal as well as academic outcomes. Since the poor academic results of (Austrian) lower-secondary-level students in science have been revealed by PISA (OECD, 2010), there have been great efforts to improve science teaching. Peer tutoring as a constructivist orientated instructional strategy is meant to be such a remedy. The present study aims to gain insights into cross- age peer tutoring as a possible way to improve science teaching by developing and evaluating peer tutoring sequences in the context of electricity and optics. It focuses on the implementation of empirical results into school practice and thus link empirical research to practical teaching.

Theoretical Background

Peer tutoring is a process which “… involves people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachers helping each other to learn and learning themselves by so doing” (Topping, 2005, p. 631). Guided by Gaustad (1993), we speak of cross-age peer tutoring if tutors are older than the tutees. Reviews of tutoring literature advices how to model successful tutoring sequences: An effective tutoring sequence should be well structured and should not last too long (less than four weeks). It is better, if you restrict yourself to some basic concepts and do it rather cross-age than same age. The tutor-tutee interaction differs from a teacher-student interaction. Therefore the age gap should not be too large (less than four years) in order to enhance a friendship-like social, emotional and language nearness (Cohen, et al., 1982; Fogarty & Wang, 1982; Robinson, et al., 2005; Topping, 2005) because. Whereas former studies emphasize the effects of CAPT on the tutees regarding their attitudinal, affective and academic outcomes, recent work shifted the focus on the tutors. Both tutors and tutees show similar academic gains which is an important fact, considering the implementation of CAPT into regular classes. Moreover, CAPT supports the three basic needs autonomy, perceived competence and relatedness according to the SDT, the Self Determination Theory of Motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Therefore CAPT is regarded as a highly motivational learning environment that teaches students to become their own teachers (Hattie, 2009, p. 186). Additionally, it is emphasized that the intense cognitive processing that takes place during CAPT interventions leads to high order conceptual understanding. This effect is reinforced by working in tutor-tutee dyads (Topping, 1996).

Publications about peer tutoring deal with different subject matters whereby remedial math is quite overrepresented and physics is hardly covered. The research on conceptual change in physics provides evidence that results from different domains may not easily be transferred to science teaching and learning, because specific pre-instructional conceptions have to be considered in order to teach successfully. This study therefore evaluates whether CAPT provides an appropriate environment in the sense of constructivist orientated learning theories, to enhance conceptual change and enables students to actively reflect and reconstruct their conceptions. Page | 284 The focus of the present work lies on the age group of 10 to 14 years old students, an age group which is tested by several OECD studies and which represents the end of compulsory education. The following research questions lead through the work: RQ 1: What is the achievement in electricity and optics for students aged 10 to 14 years according to CAPT? RQ 2: Can the differences in achievement be attributed to the different roles that students had during the tutoring process? RQ 3: How persistent is the students’ achievement? RQ 4: What are the effects due to the students’ affiliation to different classes?

Methodology

This empirical study investigated 9 classes of students twice, aged from 10 to 14 years. In the first run they participated in a CAPT intervention in the context of electricity, in the second run the topics were in the context of optics. This lead to total sample sizes of Ne=172 (electricity) and No=141 (optics). The tutoring process as we conducted it comprised all students of a class. In either case the whole class worked as a tutor and/or a tutee class. Therefore all students underwent the CAPT interventions in either role: as a tutor, as a tutee (class A and class B in Figure) or, in some cases, in both roles (class B in Figure). The whole CAPT process covered two steps: Firstly, the class of soon-to-be tutors received a so-called mentoring. One to two weeks later the tutoring took place. A mentoring included instruction on the subject matter as well as instruction on how to teach the younger ones. At the beginning, every student received a worksheet containing several theoretical and experimental tasks which they had to complete. Based on this activity they got the opportunity to realize and reflect on their own conceptions first in group discussions and afterwards in a subsequent teacher lead class discussion. At the end of the mentoring, students were invited to select tasks they considered to be suitable for their tutees, depending on the age of their tutees, which varied in age and class level. A mentoring lasted about 100 minutes. The mentoring as described above fulfills substantial aspects of a constructivist learning environment (Widodo, 2004): Learning has to be situated, individual and multi-perspective, and takes place in a social contexts. Moreover, it is the mentoring which supports the basic needs stated in the SDT by giving the students the opportunity to be experts on the learning of their tutees. Therefore it should facilitate motivation. Concerning the subject matter covered by the CAPT, intervention topics have been chosen which fit into the curriculum of both, the elder tutors and the younger tutees. Within these topics we restricted ourselves to certain key concepts as recommended by literature. In the case of electricity, the mentoring addressed the following key concepts: closed electrical circuits; direction of current; constancy of current; connection between current; connection between the resulting resistance and the brightness of bulbs (Duit & Rhöneck, 1998; Wiesner, 2004a). In the case of optics, the mentoring addressed the following key concepts: correct concept of vision (light source – object – eye); linear propagation of light; What is the shadow? What does the mirror change? Locus of the image in a mirror (e.g. Goldberg & McDermott, 1986; Wiesner, 2004b). The tutoring was accompanied by another short preparation immediately before. The tutors got the opportunity to prepare the materials needed. They repeated what they had to teach and they were handed cue cards in case they did not remember things properly. Finally, they were instructed to use the P-O-E strategy (Predict-Observe- Explain) for conducting experiments (White & Gunstone, 1992). The following tutoring lasted 40 to 50 minutes. A sequence of this process is displayed in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Simple sequence of mentoring and tutoring.

In some cases, the tutored class (B) continued to conduct their own tutoring with a class C. In preparation, class B received its own mentoring (mentoring 2). Thus, the students of class B have been in the double role, once as tutees, then as tutors (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Mentoring and tutoring with switching roles.

The academic growth was evaluated in a pretest – posttest – follow-up test design in order to compare prior knowledge to immediate and persistent knowledge. The concept inventory tests consisted of test items about electricity (Urban-Woldron & Hopf, 2012) and items in the context of shadows and mirrors.

Results

The investigated sample size was Ne=172 and No=141. The percentage of tutors was 55%, 20% tutees and 25% tutor-tutees in the double role. For approximately 67% of the students their first language was the same as the language of instruction (German). In order to answer RQ 1, t-tests were conducted to compare pretests with posttests. For each domain (electricity, mirror, shadow) the t-tests indicated a highly significant (α<0.001) increase in the students’ scores. For a proper comparison effect sizes (d) were determined: delectricity=0.46, dshadow=0.49 and dmirror=0.62. These effect sizes are similar to the overall effect size of peer tutoring (d=0.55) reported in Hattie’s study and belong all to the zone of desired effects (d>0.4) as labeled by him. Concerning the different roles students acted in (RQ 2), an ANOVA (F=6.716, p=0.002) revealed that there are significant differences in achievement. A contrast test showed that the students in the active role, who at least one time tutored other students, perform significantly better in the posttest. This can be interpreted in that way that the active role is the crucial one for the acquisition of knowledge. Figure 3 displays the mean test scores of all students for pretests, posttests and follow-up tests. The posttests have been conducted immediately after the tutoring, the follow-up tests two to four weeks after. In each case the follow-up test score remains above the pretest score. For the domains electricity and shadow t-tests reveal that the follow-up test scores are even highly significant above the pretest scores. In terms of effect sizes the increase is between 0.36 (electricity) and 0.49 (shadow). These facts indicate that CAPT leads to a sufficiently persistent knowledge (RQ 3).

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Figure 3. Pretests, posttests and follow-up tests. The last research question (RQ 4) deals with the comparison of different classes. An investigation like that was necessary because the percentage of students, whose first language is not identical with the language of instruction, varied from 0 % up to 80 %. Still, the results remain ambiguous. Fact is, that each class tested showed knowledge gains (pretest – posttest). But data do not support the claim that a higher amount of students with a different first language leads to lower learning gains due to CAPT. A cautious interpretation of data gives reason to the interpretation that CAPT works depending on the item difficulty and on the students’ language skills above a certain minimum level of knowledge.

Discussion and Conclusions

Statistical tests carried out in order to answer the research questions clearly showed that there is an enhanced achievement of students aged 10 to 14 in electricity as well as in optics due to CAPT. The obtained effect sizes between 0.46 to 0.62 are sufficiently high compared to Hattie’s benchmark (2009) which is 0.4. When we take into account that students acted in different roles during CAPT it becomes clear that the achievement depends on the role. While there is an achievement for the tutees there is an even higher one for the tutors. This result matches the findings in literature. Therefore, the active role is crucial for students’ learning. The reason for that may lie in a more intense cognitive processing in combination with enhanced motivation rather than in the mentoring. Sure, tutors additionally underwent a mentoring, but the knowledge gains cannot be explained by the mentoring itself because of the high effect sizes. It seems to be the whole package that works, consisting of mentoring, tutoring and motivation. Though attempts have been made to detect effects of CAPT on the students’ motivation no clear results have been obtained. Therefore, the statements about motivational outcomes are speculative rather than empirically warranted. The decrease in the mean scores from posttest to follow-up test can be interpreted as forgetting. The follow-up tests show a moderate and never significant decrease. This finding leads to the conclusion that CAPT shows sufficiently persistent effects. A reason for this can be that CAPT as a constructivist learning environment enhances construction of knowledge and leads to plausible and therefore persistent concepts. A very positive result from the author’s point of view is that CAPT leads to acceptable results in all classes, even in classes where students’ language skills are below average due to a large amount of students with migration background. CAPT does not close the gap between high achieving students and at-risk students but anyway, the differences are not enlarged. Within this study some mechanisms of CAPT could not been clarified. This concerns the intrinsic mechanisms of the tutoring process. It is only possible to evaluate the process as a whole. Moreover, a conceptual development could not be traced by this quantitative approach though the observed knowledge gains mark at least a beginning. Crucial for the implementation of CAPT into regular classes are the following points: Firstly, there is a benefit for tutors even if subject the matter or the items seem to be very simple for their age group. Therefore no additional rewards seem necessary to compensate their time exposure. Secondly, in order to give students a

chance to reflect about their own conceptions it is of vital interest to conduct a mentoring and to explicitly discuss the key concepts addressed. All in all, CAPT works better than conventional teacher instruction, if one finds suitable contents for both tutor and tutees. It is a teaching approach that can be easily realized without any diagnostic tool to identify qualified tutors but with whole classes.

Page | 287 References Cohen, P. A., Kulik, J. A., & Kulik, C. L. C. (1982). Educational Outcomes of Tutoring - A Meta-Analysis of Findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19(2), 237-248. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Self-Determination Theory: A Macrotheory of Human Motivation, Development, and Health. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 182-185. Duit, R., & Rhöneck, C. (1998). Learning and understanding key concepts of electricity. Connecting research in physics education with teacher education, 55-62. Fogarty, J. L., & Wang, M. C. (1982). An Investigation of the Cross-Age Peer Tutoring Process: Some Implications for Instructional Design and Motivation. The Elementary School Journal, 82(5), 451-469. Gaustad, J. (1993). Peer and cross-age tutoring. Digest, 79. Goldberg, F. M., & McDermott, L. C. (1986). Student difficulties in understanding image formation by a plane mirror. The Physics Teacher, 24(8), 472-480. Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible Learning: A sythesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, New York: Routledge. Howe, C., Tolmie, A., Greer, K., & Mackenzie, M. (1995). Peer collaboration and conceptual growth in physics: Task influences on children's understanding of heating and cooling. Cognition and Instruction, 13(4), 483-503. Lumpe, A. T., & Staver, J. R. (1995). Peer Collaboration and Concept Development: Learning about Photosynthesis. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 32(1), 71-98. OECD (Producer). (2010, 2012-09-05) PISA 2009 Ergebnisse: Zusammenfassung. Robinson, D. R., Schofield, J. W., & Steers-Wentzell, K. L. (2005). Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring in Math: Outcomes and Their Design Implications. Educational Psychology Review, 17(4), 327-362. Topping, K. J. (1996). The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: A typology and review of the literature. Higher Education, 32(3), 321-345. Topping, K. J. (2005). Trends in Peer Learning. Educational Psychology, 25(6), 631-645. Urban-Woldron, H., & Hopf, M. (2012). Testinstrument zum Verständnis in der Elektrizitätslehre. Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, Jg.18. White, R., & Gunstone, R. (1992). Probing Understanding. London, New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Widodo, A. (2004). Constructivist Oriented Lessons. The Learning Environments and the Teaching Sequences (Vol. 915). Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang GmbH. Wiesner, H. (2004a). Schülervorstellungen zur Elektrizitätslehre und Sachunterricht. In R. Müller, R. Wodzinski & M. Hopf (Eds.), Schülervorstellungen in der Physik (pp. 53-65). Köln: Aulis Verlag Deubner. Wiesner, H. (2004b). Vorstellungen von Grundschülern über Schattenphänomene. In R. Müller, R. Wodzinski & M. Hopf (Eds.), Schülervorstellungen in der Physik (pp. 71-79). Köln: Aulis Verlag Deubner.

Affiliation and address information Marianne Korner Martin Hopf University of Vienna University of Vienna Austrian Educational Centre Physics Austrian Educational Centre Physics Porzellangasse 4 Porzellangasse 4 1090 Vienna, Austria 1090 Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

Collection of Solved Problems in Physicc: Online Learning Source Encourages Students' Active Learning

Zdeňka Koupilová1, Dana Mandíková1, Marie Snětinová1, Krzysztof Rochowicz2, Grzegorz Karwasz2 1Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Page | 288 2Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland

Abstract The article reports the on-line learning source – the collection of solved problems in physics. The well elaborated tool is giving the students opportunity to learn problem solving by themselves in an efficient way. The collection is developed at the Department of Physics Education at Charles University in Prague, nevertheless the international collaboration with the Department of the Education of Physics at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun was established. Whereas the Czech institute provides management of the database, creates new problems in Czech and translates them into English, the Polish institute translates the problems into Polish and creates experiments linked with these problems. The Polish institute also printed booklet of chosen problems in mechanics.

Keywords Physics education, solving problems, online learning.

Introduction

Solving quantitative problems is one of the favorite exercises in teaching physics. It requires key competences: mathematical fluency, knowing physics and understanding the written text (“OECD”, 2014). Teaching should develop in students the ability to solve problems. Students would acquire the skills that will enable them a systematic and continuous search of knowledge, as well as developing a logical, critical and creative way of thinking. One of the goals of science (and physics) education is teaching students to solve problems (Harskamp & Ding, 2006). The common collections of unsolved or briefly solved problems are not very suitable for self-study to not so skilled students. Moreover, reading solved problems is a very ineffective way of learning. There is also usually a lack of time to solve enough problems in the class.

Collection of solved problems in Physics

The collection of solved problems prepared at Charles University (Koupilová & Mandíková, 2015) goes beyond the traditional role of numerical exercises in Physics. The form of the electronic database of problems with structured solution is designed specially to substitute tutor’s help and to encourage students to solve the problems or at least some of their parts independently. It uses various hints, notes with laws and formulas and plots. The difficulty of understanding the written text is easier thanks to the step-by-step hints and explanations, written in a simple language. The numerical insecurity of a student is overcome by several, alternative and complementary problems, forming a sequence with a rising difficulty (Passing of a Train I and II, tasks no. 386 and 387). Finally, essentials of physics are underlined by coming back, on different levels, to the same problem: equilibrium position of pendulum in different systems (tasks no. 937 and 481), ballistic pendulum (I and II, tasks no. 146 and 147).

How the collection looks like Typical structure of a task contains compulsory sections (title, assignment, at least one section of solution and the answer) and recommended sections (hints, analysis, comments, links to similar tasks, see Figure 1). In analysis section a strategy of solution and physical principles used within the solution of the problem are highlighted; no formulas are used here to persuade students to think more about the physical context of the problem than about the mathematics involved. The main difficulties that students face in solving problems relate to a low degree of development of certain skills that are essential in any process of problem solving, for example, linking their prior knowledge to the new problem situation, conducting a qualitative analysis of the situation, developing a solution strategy or carrying out appropriate calculations (Becerra-Labra et al., 2012). Thus, in

solution section a special attention is paid to a step by step description, including every logical operation and formulas’ operation, list of known and sought-after data, unit conversions and numerical calculations.

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Figure 1. The screenshot of a typical problem

Users of the collection We have had usually over 1000 visitors per day in January 2014 – June 2015 period. The number of visitors precisely distinguishes school days, weekends and holidays. The geographical distribution of the visitors is figured on Figure 2.

Figure 2. Geographical distribution of visitors

Current content Current content of the web database includes nearly a thousand physics and about 400 math problems in Czech. Besides them, translations of approximately 100 physical problems in Polish and 120 in English (Table 1) are available.

Table 1. Rough numbers of published problems in individual subjects. Page | 290

Topics Tasks Mechanics 220 Electricity and Magnetim 260

Thermodynamics 140 Optics 50

Physics Physics of microworld 90

Czech Theoretical mechanics 50 Mathematical methods 80 Mathematical analysis 190

Linear algebra 160 Math Algebra 15

Mechanics 50 Thermodynamics 20

English Electricity and Magnetim 50 Mechanics 30 Thermodynamics 36

Polish Electricity and Magnetim 20 Physics of microworld 12

Booklet of problems in mechanics The Department of the Education of Physics (ZDF) of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun published online the Polish translation of nearly one hundred tasks (see Table 1). Apart from this, a booklet with selected problems in mechanics has been prepared as the educational material for Polish students and teachers distributed during ZDF seminars. First edition was printed in 300 copies in 2013. It was assessed as an excellent tool for students' self-study, that’s why we decided to extend its content (some problems for more advanced learners were added) and it was printed in 2014 at the NCU publishing house (Koupilova et al., 2014). The booklet is available only in Polish.

Linking physics problems with experiments

Physics problems can be usefully supplemented with experiments showing the same physical phenomenon, or vice versa. This interconnection of problems and experiments can serve not only as a motivation for students, but it is also useful for better understanding of physics concepts. For this reason, ZDF prepared set of physics experiments linked with problems. An example of work linking problems with experiments is a problem of a spinning reel with a tape wound on it. Such an experiment used to be shown during lectures on mechanics by one of our colleagues (Hieronim). While unrolling the tape, the direction of the movement of the reel depends on the angle that the tape forms with the horizontal direction – see the movie on our webpage (Służewski & Karwasz, 2015). In accord with calculations, see (Koupilova et al., 2014), the effect is based on the interaction between two forces – the one pulling the reel (to the right on Figure 3a) and the static friction force (acting to the left in this case). These two forces (actually moments of these forces) can be added in such a way that sometimes the spool accelerates to the right, sometimes to the left, depending on the angle of application of the force to pull (see the movie: Służewski & Karwasz, 2015).

Although the theoretical description of a similar problem is one of textbook “classics” (Mazzoldi, 1998), a real experiment attracts much more web visitors than the solved problem itself. Further, precise measurements using computer-controlled force sensors illustrate several other aspects, like slipping, errors in digital approximations or simplifications in calculations (see Figure 3c).

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Figure 3. From simplified picture of the situation in the Problem Collection (left panel) to a real demonstration (middle) and computer-aided experiment (right). The direction of movement of a rolling bobbin depends on the angle of the pulling force. Adopted from Służewski & Karwasz ( 2015).

We have also analysed both theoretically and experimentally the problem of static and kinetic friction on inclined plane on the same webpage (Służewski & Karwasz, 2015), which is crucial for explaining a similar case of “a cat pulling a ball of wool”. Depending on the point of application of the pulling force, the static friction force changes its value. Moreover, if the thread is hooked above the axis (at least at the level of R/2, where R is the radius of the ball), the friction force changes direction (see Becerra-Labra, et al., 2012; Mazzoldi, 1998). The friction during rolling is a static friction and it acts always against a possible direction of the slip.

Conclusion

The database of problems with structured solution, either in electronic or printed version, is designed specially to substitute tutor’s help and to encourage students to solve the problems independently. Solved problems in physics are only a starting point into illustrating different aspects of the real world. We plan to add new problems and new topics to the on-line database and to continue in translation of problems into English and Polish. We have also prepared a set of experiments that are linked with the already prepared problems.

References Becerra-Labra, C., Gras-Marti, A. and Torregrosa, J.M. (2012). Effects of a Problem-based Structure of Physics Contents on Conceptual Learning and the Ability to Solve Problems. International Journal of Science Education, 34 (8), 1235-1253. Harskamp, E. and Ding, N. (2006). Structured collaboration versus individual learning in solving physics problems. International Journal of Science Education, 28 (14), 1669–1688. Karwasz, G. (2015). Hyper-constructivism in teaching Physics: defining social competences, GIREP 2015 Proceedings. Koupilová, Z., Mandíková, D. (2015). Collection of Solved Problems in Physics. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from: http://physicstasks.eu Koupilova, Z., Mandikova, D., Rochowicz, K. and Karwasz, G. (2014). Sbirka zadań z fizyki, Wydawnictwo UMK. Mazzoldi, P., Saggion, A. and Voci, C. (1998). Problemi di fisica generale, Padova. OECD (2014). In The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: Testing student and university performance globally: OECD’s AHELO, Retrieved May 11, 2016, from: http://www.oecd.org/edu/skills-beyond- school/testingstudentanduniversityperformancegloballyoecdsahelo.htm Służewski, K., Karwasz, G. (2015). Hieronim’s roll, Retrieved May 11, 2016, from: http://dydaktyka.fizyka.umk.pl/nowa_strona/?q=node/472

Affiliation and address information Zdeňka Koupilová Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Department of Physics Education Charles University in Prague V Holešovičkách 2 Prague 8, 180 00 Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

How to Increase Teachers’ Self-Confidence: An Example Concerning Semiconductors

Leoš Dvořák Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Czech Republic

Page | 292 Abstract The paper presents activities aimed at increasing physics teachers’ self-confidence in the area of semiconductors, namely their practical applications. These activities have been used since 2008 at seminars of the informal Heureka project. At the seminar, participants also actively build some simple tools that they can later use in their classes. Our experience shows that this hands-on, minds-on approach is appreciated by teachers. Both formal and informal feedback is shortly discussed in the paper as well as (rather encouraging) results of a small survey among former participants trying to find possible long-term impact of the seminar.

Keywords Teacher training, teacher’s self-confidence, semiconductors, hands-on minds-on.

Introduction

Often the competencies of physics teachers are intertwined with their self-confidence. If the teacher himself is not confident in some topic (or in skills related to the topic) he can hardly teach it in a modern and active way, ready to discuss questions and ideas of students. Surely, it is desirable to increase teachers’ knowledge and confidence to help them to teach such topics better. One area, in which teachers sometimes do not feel very sure, at least in our country, concerns semiconductors. The theory of p-n junctions they remember from their studies sometimes slightly obscures simple behaviour of semiconductor components, components themselves are often hidden in some teaching aids (panels where just the symbols of components are visible) which makes them a little bit “alien” and, quite often, teachers simply do not have enough experience with transistors and similar components. The result is that some teachers are more or less afraid of this area; their self-confidence in it is rather low. The above mentioned attitude to semiconductors occurred also in teachers participating at our long-term informal project Heureka. (For more information on the project, see (Dvořáková, 2014).) Therefore, after some intermediate steps, we started to devote one seminar in the two-year cycle of ten weekend seminars for physics teachers solely to semiconductors. Since 2008, there were four such seminars, each lasting more than 15 hours, attended by 20-25 teachers. (Also, we organized some shorter seminars on this topic including one for physics teachers in Slovenia, see (Koudelková, Faletič, 2010).) Here, the teachers worked with semiconductor components in an active way doing experiments and building some simple tools they can later use in their own teaching. At the end of each seminar teachers were asked for feedback (not very formal but structured), this was usually quite positive. Also, during spring 2015, a questionnaire was sent to former participants to find out their opinions after longer time. Some results of this small survey will be presented below.

Teacher training seminars on semiconductors – a closer look

Formal characteristics of the seminar are the same as in case of other Heureka seminars: This is a weekend seminar starting on Friday evening and lasting until Sunday at about 11 a.m., so there are some 14-15 hours available for the program. However, it is difficult to quantify the time devoted to physics exactly because teachers can discuss and even do experiments till late at night if they will – and sometimes they do. (The seminar takes place in school, the participants stay there all the time, sleeping in classrooms in their sleeping bags, the atmosphere is very informal. Also, the seminars are free of charge.) Typically, 20-25 physics teachers from both lower and upper secondary schools (so, for age groups 12-15 and 16-19) participate at the seminar. During this seminar, participants explore features and behaviour of semiconductor components, especially LEDs, other diodes and bipolar transistors. They do it in an active way, in “hands-on minds-on” approach. At first seminars we started with measuring V-A characteristics of LEDs. However, it proved to be more useful to start with qualitative or very simple quantitative experiments: to connect LED to a battery (using a resistor in series) trying both polarities, to connect two LEDs in series (again trying various combination of polarities), to measure a “typical” voltages at LEDs of various colours (and trying to interpret the results, at least qualitatively). Teachers also play with UV LEDs and look at IR LEDs using their mobile phone cameras. (Some cameras have IR filter but some do not have it so one can use them to “see IR light”.) Also, it is useful to let teachers destroy a

LED by connecting it directly to 4.5 V battery. This enables them to see why it is important to add a serial resistor to LED to limit the current. (For this, cheap 3 mm red LEDs are suitable. However, one must be careful when doing this experiment. Sometimes the plastic cover of the LED breaks and its top flies off with high speed, so be careful not to aim to anybody´s eyes.) All of this takes place during Friday evening. Then, already on Saturday, some “real measurements” start. In fact, we do not start with any semiconductor component; we measure the V-A characteristic of an ordinary resistor first. We do it on purpose – teachers start Page | 293 with something they know so they can easily make the whole setup, check that everything works and they will see the (expected) result. However, our approach is not a cookbook one. The task is” You have an unknown resistor, a battery, two multimeters and a set of known resistors. Draw a diagram of a circuit you will use, do the measurements, fill the data to some table and then draw a graph showing how voltage and current depend on each other.” They work in groups, typically in pairs – and we also discuss their various approaches, what one can learn from such simple measurement etc. After doing that, when they are sure that everything works, they replace an unknown resistor with LED and measure its V-A characteristic. Then we discuss the non-linear behaviour of this component, return to the question why it is necessary to limit the current flowing through the LED by a resistor in series, etc. Of course, the measurement of V-A characteristic could be done by some sophisticated equipment: Vernier, Pasco or other sensors, digitally controlled power sources setting voltage or current etc. However, we prefer much simpler and cheaper tools. Even rheostats for setting a current through the LED could be too expensive if we want to provide them to each pair of teachers (or their students in the schools). So we decided to control the current by a set of fixed resistors. In the labs, often resistor decades (or “decade resistor boxes”) are used. In our case, just three resistors are used for each order of magnitude, so these tools can be called “resistor triades”, see Figure 1. They proved to be very useful on all our experiments.

Figure 1. Simple “resistor triades” and how they can be used to measure LED’s V-A characteristic.

Now, an important point comes. Teachers not only use “triades” we prepared; they also build their own ones! There is no need to describe here the “technology” of constructing these and similar tools. It was used in the workshop at the ICPE-EPEC 2013 conference and it is described in the conference Proceeding, see (Dvořák, 2014). What we should emphasise is the fact that such active building of simple tools proved to be very effective for motivation of physics teachers and it really enhances their self-confidence – and perhaps we can even say, their professional self-esteem. They use hammers, soldering irons, resistors and semiconductor components and they build something that really works! (Well, in case of resistor triades only passive components are involved but further devices are more interesting, see some examples below.) They are really proud of it. Moreover, they can take all they build at the seminar to their schools and use it in their classes. We will not describe here the program of the seminar in the details. After LEDs, teachers also measure properties of “common” diodes, Zener diodes (we discuss how they can stabilize voltage), thermistors and photoresistors. Then we move to (bipolar) transistors, starting with probably the simplest possible circuit in which a transistor acts like a switch. Just after then we “discover” and measure a current gain, investigate Darlington circuit and finally investigate how a transistor can amplify voltage. This proved to be enough for one weekend seminar. In planning the first seminar, I was too optimistic and prepared also simple tasks to investigate basic behaviour of thyristors and field-effect transistors but in reality it was done just once when we “borrowed” time from a part of further seminar. Of course, the content of the seminar could be adapted. For example, it could be useful to cover also some theory concerning semiconductors. We avoided this in our seminar because this can be found in textbooks. Instead, we concentrate on offering teachers a possibility to actively investigate the behaviour of basic semiconductor components and some of their applications.

Examples of what teachers build and use

As it was indicated above, the very important component of the seminar is the fact that teachers themselves build simple devices and tools and that at the end they take all they built with them to their schools. We do not need to present here all such tools, they were already shortly described in (Dvořák, 2014). Let us just mention a few which proved to be very popular among teachers. Page | 294 The first one is a simple pair of LEDs with a resistor in series, see Figure 2.

Figure 2. Simple indicator with two LEDs and its version with a battery.

It can detect voltage in the range 3-6 V (or more if resistor with higher resistivity is used), currents up to 20 mA, polarity of the voltage, distinguish DC and AC, show that polarity of AC in mains (after it is transformed to a few volts) changes with time (it is sufficient just to move the indicator sufficiently quickly, you will see colour stripes). Its version with a battery can be used to check whether wires are not broken, to find the polarity of diodes, LEDs, p-n junctions in transistors, etc. The second circuit is a model of Graetz rectifier, see Figure 2. In case a very low frequency signal of the amplitude of 7-9 V is attached to the input and some load (it may be an indicator with two LEDs described above) is connected to the output, then LED light clearly shows where current flows. Let us add that it is not necessary to use an expensive low frequency generator – a simple switch and two 9 V batteries provide the same service.

Figure 3. Graetz rectifier with LEDs can clearly illustrate its function. The third circuit that is very popular is an indicator that can detect very low currents and even changes of electric field. One of its variants was described in (Dvořák, 2012a). An even simpler variant using LED is shown in Figure 4. It can indicate currents of the order of 1 nA and also motion of nearby charged bodies (straws charged by being rubbed etc.). It can be used to demonstrate the conductivity of human bodies, distinguish polarity of electrostatic charges and other experiment.

Figure 4. A sensitive indicator of small currents and changes of electric field.

All these simple devices are very low-cost and can be easily build. One of their main advantages is also the fact that they are not “black boxes”. Nothing is hidden and, moreover, the layout of components can copy the circuit design. The terminals can be connected by cables with small crocodile clips, so one can combine those tools together.

Feedback from teachers

Page | 295 At the end of each Heureka seminar we ask teachers to provide quick feedback for us. Though brief, the feedback is structured. We ask participants to evaluate each part of the seminar. In case of semiconductors they were simple qualitative experiments with LEDs, measurement of V-A characteristic, building simple devices, etc. Teachers should separately evaluate how each part was interesting (it means interesting for them personally) and useful (it means useful for their teaching). They should evaluate it at 5-point Lickert-type scale ranging from -2 (a disaster), -1 (rather bad) through 0 (neutral evaluation) to +1 (fine) and +2 (super!). They can also add comments. Also, they are asked to evaluate the seminar as a whole. Then they can add what they appreciated most at the seminar, what they disliked, what they missed and add any other comment. Such feedback proved to be very useful for us because it enables to “fine-tune” the seminars in the next run (i.e., after two years) or to return to some points in the next seminar (typically, after two months). In general, the evaluation is rather positive but if some teachers dislike something, they do not hesitate to give negative feedback. (In fact, if an average evaluation of some activity is lower than +1, we take it as a signal that we should think what to change.) The seminars on semiconductors are, in general admired quite a lot by their participants. The evaluation of the seminars is presented in Table 1. (The number of respondents was 17 in 2012 and 18 in 2014.) The values in the table are averages of all specific activities – in fact, in the rubric “overall impression” in 2014 for both questions whether the seminar was interesting and useful the averages were +2. So, it seems that the immediate impression of teachers was really positive.

Table 1. Evaluation of seminars on semiconductors at the scale -2 (disaster) to +2 (super).

Year Was it interesting? Was it useful? 2012 +1.69 +1.61 2014 + 1.89 +1.78

Long-term effects (survey and its results)

To find whether the seminar has also some long-lasting effect, a short survey was conducted in June 2015. Ninety two teachers who participated at the seminars (or, occasionally, at similar activities) were asked to fill in a Google form. We asked them to let us know: A) What was the seminar good for to them (if for anything at all) B) Whether they use something that was done or that they built at the seminar in their teaching C) Whether they have some suggestions what to update or change at the seminar D) If they would be interested in some follow-up seminar concerning semiconductors Also, another question concerned workshops on semiconductors at the Heureka Workshops conferences – these will be shortly mentioned below. In each question a respondent can tick one or more predefined variants and add an open reply (in text format). Thirty teachers answered the questionnaire. Though their voices should not be overestimated, the responses are rather encouraging. In response to the question A) teachers answered that:  The seminar helped to reduce their fear of semiconductors (43 % of answers)  They practiced soldering or learned to solder (80 %)  They learned something new (93 %)  They build some circuits/tools and could take them away (93 %) Responses to question B) showed that:  90 % of teachers use the tools they built at the seminar in their teaching

 37 % of teachers built some more tools later by themselves  43 % of them let their own students to build such tools and circuits In responding to the question D) 67 % of teachers said they would like to attend some follow-up seminar. (So it seems we should organize some…) Though the number of respondents was not large, the survey supports the informal feeling coming from contacts Page | 296 with teachers that the seminars have at least some positive long-time effects. Related activities, further support of teachers

Of course, the above mentioned seminars are not the only activities aimed at helping teachers to master semiconductors and use them in their teaching. Building some simple circuits and doing experiments with them became one of popular activities done at meetings of Czech physics teachers in regional centres of the project “Elixir for schools”. (For more information on that project, see (Dvořáková, Dvořák, 2015).) These activities are to some extent related to what was described above because a lot of leaders of the regional centres went in the past through Heureka seminars. Of course, for some of those leaders the Heureka seminars on semiconductors were not the point where they learned about semiconductors from scratch because they knew this area very well. However, it is encouraging that they reported that even for them the seminars were inspiring. Further related activities comprise workshops at the conference Heureka Workshops (see (Planinšič, 2006) or (Swinbank, 2015)). There, at some workshops led by the author of this text, in recent years teachers built some slightly more complicated tools and devices. The motivation was to extend the experience teachers had with transistors also to some integrated circuits – to present these circuits as something teachers can also master, at least in case of simple applications. Therefore, in 2012, teachers built there a buzzer and a stroboscope with an integrated circuit (timer) 555. In 2014, a circuit that indicates small voltages was built using operational amplifier TLC271. Finally, in 2015 (after GIREP conference), a simple low-frequency generator of square and triangular waves was built using operational amplifier TLC272. In each year, some 30-40 teachers built the device (not in one run of the workshop, it was repeated four times). And finally, all succeeded. Though, it must be admitted, it usually took more than 90 minutes devoted to the workshop. Therefore, many came later, sometimes during evenings, to finish their constructions. However, it was important for them to finalize what they were building and to experience success – again and again the final moment proved to be very rewarding. Hopefully, they will teach their own students in a way that will enable them to experience similar successful moments… Further support of teachers includes also materials from various courses or papers in proceedings of Heureka Workshops conferences. They are freely available on web. However, because these materials are aimed at Czech physics teachers, they are in Czech, so their usefulness for participants of GIREP conferences is limited – but in case photos and circuit designs could be interesting for you, or Czech language is not a barrier for you, you can look at (Dvorak, 2012b, 2012c, 2015).

Conclusions

Both informal and formal feedback from teachers indicate that it makes sense to organize and lead seminars where teachers familiarize themselves with properties of semiconductor components in an active way, using hands-on, minds-on approach. One aspect of our seminars greatly appreciated by teachers is the fact that they build simple tools and devices with their own hands. Two moments seem to be important: First, the experience of success: “What I built really works!” Second, the fact they can take these products of their hands with them and use them in their teaching. Of course, another important aspect is the fact that teachers should understand the behaviour of these simple circuits, devices and their components. This cannot be always assured at short workshops, but at longer weekend seminars we care for it quite a lot. In case you organize or plan to organize some similar seminars or activities for teachers, we would appreciate mutual change of experience and inspiration. Our next seminar on semiconductors, in the 7th run of Heureka courses, will take place in spring 2016.

References Dvořáková I. (2014), Active learning in the Heureka Project. ICPE-EPEC 2013 Conference Proceedings, Charles University in Prague, MATFYZPRESS publisher, Prague, 47-62. Available online: http://iupap-icpe.org/publications/proceedings/ICPE-EPEC_2013_proceedings.pdf

Dvořáková I., Dvořák L. (2015), “Elixir for schools” – a new initiative supporting Czech physics teachers. Teaching and learning physics: Integrating research into practice. Proceedings of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference. Università degli Studi di Palermo, 791-793. Dvořák L. (2012a), Bipolar transistors can detect charge in electrostatic experiments. Physics Education 47, 434-438. Dvořák L. (2012b), Blikač, bzučák, stroboskop. Dílny Heuréky 2012. Sborník konference projektu Heuréka. P3K, Praha, Czech Republic, 13-30. (In Czech, available online: http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/heureka/sborniky/DilnyHeureky_2012.pdf) Page | 297 Dvořák L. (2012c), Polovodiče a jejich aplikace. P3K, Praha, Czech Republic. (In Czech, available online: http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/projekty/oppa/polovodice.pdf) Dvořák L. (2014), Semiconductors at work.. ICPE-EPEC 2013 Conference Proceedings, Charles University in Prague, MATFYZPRESS publisher, Prague, 818-825. Available online: http://iupap-icpe.org/publications/proceedings/ICPE-EPEC_2013_proceedings.pdf Dvořák L. (2015), Nebojme se operačních zesilovačů (aneb jak demonstrovat napětí indukované v kousku vodiče). Dílny Heuréky 2014. Sborník konference projektu Heuréka. Matfyzpress, Praha, 40-61. (In Czech, available online: http://kdf.mff.cuni.cz/heureka/sborniky/DilnyHeureky_2014.pdf) Koudelková V., Faletič S. (2010), Teachers explore electronics. Physics Education 45, 125. Planinšič G. (2006), Teachers share experiment know-how, Physics Education 41, 7-8. Swinbank E. (2015), Heureka moments. Physics Education 50, 273-275.

Affiliation and address information Leoš Dvořák Department of Physics Education Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University in Prague V Holešovičkách 2 180 00 Praha 8 Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]

Comparing Traditional Pedagogical Approches in Science to Inquiry Based Ones: A Case Study with Pre-Service Primary School Teachers

Giuliana Croce, Onofrio R. Battaglia, Claudio Fazio Gruppo di Ricerca in Didattica e Storia della Fisica e della Chimica, Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy Page | 298 Abstract In this contribution we discuss a teaching/learning experiment focused on comparing traditional teaching/learning methods to the IBSE approaches in the framework of pre-service primary school teacher education. We discuss the main phases of the pedagogical activities developed during a physics education course in the framework of the undergraduate course for pre-service primary school teacher education at the University of Palermo (Italy). In this course, the students first produced examples of pedagogical paths based on a traditional, pedagogical laboratory-based approach. Then, after a workshop focused on IBSE and on how to plan IBSE-optimized activities, the students were asked to produce new pedagogical materials in the light of the new IBSE methodologies experimented. At the end, the students were asked to do a metacognitive reflection of the differences between their traditional and IBSE products and discuss their ideas all together. Then, some preliminary results of the analysis of data coming from the administration to the pre-service teachers of pre- and post-instruction tests are discussed. These tests were focused on student typical teaching styles, on their motivation in learning and teaching science and on their difficulties in planning scientific activities in the classroom. Data coming from the preliminary analysis of pre-service teacher worksheets and logbooks are also presented.

Keywords Inquiry-Based Science Education, pre-service primary school teacher education.

Introduction

As it is well known, in the last years a worrisome decline in young people understanding and interest for key science studies has been highlighted in the developed countries. The Rocard report [1] identifies the origins of this decline largely in the traditional way science is taught in schools. As a matter of fact, in many countries, like Italy, science teaching approach is largely based on teacher-centred activities, with the teacher who plays the role of the main provider of knowledge. Students are left in a passive role with respect to their learning and are allowed, at best, to verify information provided by the teacher as something already established and true. The Rocard report and other research reports [2-4] also suggests that a renewed school science pedagogy based on development of the process of inquiry–learning through questioning – can be considered a viable solution to the need of improve the understanding of science and reverse the aforementioned decline in student interest. In fact, an inquiry-based teaching environment is today considered the natural framework where to develop opportunities for learning science in terms of an active construction of meaningful knowledge, as it can, among other things, increase opportunities for cooperation between actors in the education framework [5-7]. All this is also well acknowledged in the 2012 Italian National Standards for Education, where it is possible to find clear and continuous references to a teaching style, common to all disciplines, that must involve the student through practical activities and make him/her active builder of his/her knowledge, so be ready to face the many challenges of his/her future life. Particularly, a modern school must make the student able to 'learn to learn'. On the other hand, the educational research has shown that teachers often bring to their classrooms teaching methods based on their previous experience as students. This points to the need to rethink about pre-service teacher education programs, deepening the prospective teachers’ ways of thinking about science and science teaching and reorienting them towards a more constructivist approach, like the inquiry-based one.

Inquiry-based instruction and the need for an appropriate teacher education

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) is considered to be an important current trend in science education reform. In the European context, numerous inquiry-based science and mathematics projects1 aim at promoting the development of inquiry-based science teaching methods and support the effective implementation of inquiry practices through the equally important contribution of both science content knowledge and pedagogical process Page | 299 knowledge [1,8]. Very recent updates of the American standards of science education strongly encourage the development of instructional environments focused on the engagement in the practices of design, being convinced that this latter is equally important in the process of learning science, as the engagement in the practice of science [6,9] The teaching strategies involved in inquiry approaches are grounded on the viewpoint that students are active thinkers, who construct their own understanding from interactions with phenomena, the environment, and other individuals. In inquiry-based learning, the students are engaged in identifying scientifically oriented questions, planning investigations, collecting data and evidences in laboratory and/or real life situations, building descriptions and explanation models, sharing their findings and eventually addressing new questions that arise. Depending on the amount of information and support provided by the teachers, the learners may be involved in a structured/guided inquiry or open inquiry [10-12]. Generally, in structured inquiry the questions and procedures are provided by the teacher, and students generate their own explanations, supported by the evidence they have collected. In guided inquiry the teacher provides the students with only the research questions, and the students design the procedures to find reasonable answers and/or test the resulting explanations. In open inqiry-based instruction, the teacher takes the delicate role of defining the context for inquiry, stimulating the students to derive their own questions, design and carry out independent investigations, construct coherent explanations, share their findings. This level of inquiry requires the highest capacity of scientific reasoning. A model of sequencing learning experiences is represented by the 5E model [13] that leads students through five phases of learning: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. By synthesizing, the different phases can be described as follows: (1) Engagement involves the setting of the learning environment in a way that stimulates interest and generates curiosity in the topic under study; (2) Exploration is the beginning of student engagement in inquiry, by searching for information, raising questions, developing hypotheses to test; (3) Explanation involves the process of data acquisition and evidence-processing techniques for the individual groups or entire class (depending on the nature of investigation) from the information collected during the exploration; (4) Elaboration is the state in which acquired information are discussed with peers and the teacher by acquiring extension of concepts to new situations and possible generalizations; (5) Evaluation involves students’ capacity to make judgments, analyses, and evaluations of their work, also in comparison with the work of their colleagues. On the other hand, it is easy understandable that the development and actual use of inquiry-based pedagogic activities require a deep change of the teacher’s role, concerning his interaction with pupils as well as the development of new professional competences [14]. As a consequence, the initial and in-service teachers’ formations need to take into account new educational objectives and new competencies. Unfortunately, the subject-matter and pedagogic understanding pre-service teachers exhibit in teacher education course works is very often different from what they will need to posses and improve to help their future pupils to develop an effective scientific culture. This has been shown in many field of science education [15-16], and Physics in particular, where it is well documented [17] that the procedural understanding of Physics that pre-service teachers typically exhibit in university courses is not adequate to teach Physics according to many proposed innovations involving deep changes in contents and pedagogical methods.

1PROFILES (http://www.profiles-project.eu/); PATHWAY (http://www.pathway-project.eu/); PRIMAS (http://www.primas- project.eu/); FIBONACCI (http://www.fibonacci-project.eu/); ESTABLISH (http://www.establish-fp7.eu/) ; SAILS (http://www.sails-project.eu/).

A central task of pre-service teacher preparation courses should, then, be to transform and deepen prospective teachers’ understanding of subject matter and to redirect their habitual ways of thinking about subject matter for teaching.

The pilot study teaching experiment

Page | 300 On the basis of the theoretical framework and of the considerations described above we developed a research project based on the teaching of scientific disciplines at elementary school and at kindergarten. It was developed in its pilot phase at the University of Palermo (UNIPA), Italy, during the Academic Year 2014-15 an will continue during the following year. 200 students, mainly females, at the fourth year of the pre-service course for primary teacher education at UNIPA have been involved in the project activities. In Italy the general idea of IB teaching is well acknowledged by pre-service teachers, but only at a theoretical level. In fact, they study it in their theoretical courses about Pedagogy, relating it to the well known Constructivist approach to learning, but often never really experienced it in real situations, with real pupils. The aim of the research is mainly to test the ideas of our pre-service teachers on the usefulness of Inquiry Based activities with Primary Schools students and to verify if these ideas can be modified by attendance to a course based on the experimentation of real IB activities on their own knowledge. The pilot phase of the teaching experiment was conducted with the pre-service teachers according to the following steps:  Administration of a Pre-Instruction test.  Attendance of a pedagogical laboratory based on traditional activities (i.e. activities based on student work-groups, but not based on an explicit 5-E structure).  Attendance of an Inquiry-Based pedagogical laboratory.  Planning and production of a Science Exhibition for real primary school students.  Administration of a Post-Instruction test.

Data have been collected by means of qualitative analysis of pre-service teacher worksheets and of the answers to open-ended questions administered to pre-service teachers both before and after the attendance of pedagogical laboratories. The questions are reported in the Appendix. The activities performed during the traditional pedagogical laboratory were developed during 4 workshops, each 4 hour long; 200 Pre-Service Teachers attended the workshops, divided into subgroups, each composed by 4 students and guided by experienced in-service teachers. It is worth noting here that these experienced in- service teacher were mainly skilled in traditional teaching and were not expert of the IBSE approaches to teaching. During the first day, the pre-service teachers participated to focus groups, to survey their ideas about how a good science laboratory should be organized. Then, they analysed the Italian National Curriculum for Primary School. During the second meeting, the pre-service teachers were asked to design lesson plans on science contents, according to what they were taught during their curricular university courses (i.e., on the basis of the mere application of pedagogy to science concepts, without any real educational reconstruction of the science concept to be taught [18]). During the third day, they prepared conceptual maps, posters and other pedagogical tools related to the subject chosen for the lesson plans. The last day was spent conducting group discussions on the lesson plans produced by each subgroups, comparing and self-evaluating the pedagogical skills required for an effective use in real classrooms. The IB pedagogical laboratory, attended by the pre-service teachers two months after the conclusion of more traditional ones were developed during 4 workshop, each 3 hour long. After an introduction to the general idea of inquiry based science education, the pre-service teachers planned and personally performed the simple experiments that they planned to insert in the pedagogical activities, taking care of use their gained experience

to develop pupil-centred pedagogical plans. They prepared 36 experimental kits, for 36 groups. All these kits were realized with common-life material (with a budget of about €200 ...). The preparatory phase was rather tiring for the pre-service teachers, that in some cases never worked in a science laboratory, but rather fun. They were supplied by the instructors with workshop notebooks, containing questions aimed at helping them to fully develop all the 5 E’s of the IBSE approach. Our ‘Inquiry’ location was the main Auditorium of the Department of Physic and Chemistry at the University of Palermo. This is not a real physic laboratory, but only a very big Page | 301 classroom. The pre-service teachers performed experiments on communicating vessels, balloon jet, Newton’s pendulum, use of optical microscope, electrical circuits, air and water pressure, bubble blower etc. Then, they planned and practically realized the exhibits for a science exhibition to be conducted with real primary school pupils. Finally, the science exhibition was done in two days, during June 2015, with about 20 experiments presented to pupils by 70 volunteer pre-service teachers. 200 pupils and 10 accompanying teachers attended the science exhibition.

Figure 1. Primary school pupils experimenting with water. Figure 2. Demonstration of a simple electric circuit.

Discussion of the preliminary results of the pilot study and final considerations

As we wrote above, our experimental group was mainly composed by females. Almost all studied sciences at primary and secondary schools by following an approach based on lectures. Most of them never heard of Inquiry before. The analysis of answers to the pre-instruction test shows that, in most cases, the pre-service teachers believe that teaching in schools by following a laboratory approach is not easy. Indeed, they consider it very difficult, finding a reason in factors independent off their own responsibility, like the high number of pupils in the classrooms, the lack of laboratory tools and instruments, the lack or real laboratories, i.e. of classrooms specifically designed to perform experimental activities with pupils. Moreover, many pre-service teachers claim, in the pre-instruction test, that they do not feel confident in designing and developing a scientific activity with pupils. From the pre-instruction data it appears clear that the pre-service teachers know what should be the key points for a successful scientific activities. They know that a scientific activity should be engaging and should directly involve the pupils from a psycho/physical point of view, but the lack of experience is clearly seen by them as an obstacle to the development of scientific activities with pupils. The preliminary results of the traditional pedagogical laboratory, drawn on the basis of the analysis of pre- service teacher worksheets and of informal interviews again show that pre-service teacher were surely aware of

the dynamics that needs to comes into play for an effective scientific teaching. According to them, science teaching should be fun, motivating, aimed at the pupil understanding, based on advices from Pedagogy and Psicology (that they theoretically studied). However, during the traditional laboratory activities the educational plans clearly appeared to be anchored to the central role played by the teacher. Little time was left for free discussion among pupils, for the formulation of hypotheses, for direct pupil investigations, for peer to peer work. Moreover the pre service teacher hardly tried by themselves the experiments they planned for the pupils. Also, Page | 302 the pedagogical plans designed during the traditional pedagogical laboratory activities showed a marked lack of a phase aimed at engaging pupils in the subject and arouse curiosity. Very often little time is devoted to the exploration of reality and to the construction of hypotheses and models. A preliminary analysis of data collected after the IB pedagogical laboratory (again performed on pre-service teacher worksheets and on the basis of informal interviews) showed that being exposed to a different way to see a pedagogical laboratory mainly had as a result an improvement of planning, experimental and modelling skills of the pre-service teachers. A modification of the way they see the role of laboratory in teaching science was also clear from our preliminary analysis. The pre-service teachers seem to have understood that the real causes of difficulty in planning and developing laboratory activities are often to be found in the lack of teacher experimental and modelling skills, rather than in the lack of school laboratories, pedagogical materials and student interest, as they often said before the inquiry based instruction. After gaining experience in an inquiry- based laboratory performed on their own understanding, and after seeing how it is possible to create a science lab with few resources, with inexpensive material and in not specifically designed classrooms, and after having carried out activities oriented to the building of scientific exhibits, the pre-service teacher showed full awareness that the success of a scientific laboratory primarily depends on them. An adequate training on science content, the development of skills in managing the pupils, involving them and using teaching models adequate to the pupils' age are now perceived as relevant for the success in teaching science. A comparison of answers to the pre- and post-instruction tests also show that pre-service teacher need to directly experience with pupils the pedagogical plans they design during the formative activities at University. Having had the possibility to be engaged in a real exhibition with pupils authentically excited and motivated them, giving also them the possibility to directly assess with pupils their pedagogical products. We also note that, despite many pre-service teachers declared that they not always found easy to understand and study science during their past experiences at school as students, they approached the inquiry-based laboratory almost like they wanted to, somehow, redeem them and get authentically involved in this adventure. The science exhibition results has proved them right. In fact, they faced the preparation and realization of exhibit with great enthusiasm, competence, responsibility and managed to put on a real scientific exhibition relying on their forces and desire to learn how to effectively teach in this so innovative (for them) way. References [1] M. Rocard, P. Csermely, D. Jorde, D. Lenzen, H. Walberg-Henriksson, V. Hemmo, Science Education Now: A renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe, EU Research Report, ISSN 1018-5593 (2007). [2] American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Project 2061, Benchmarks for science literacy (Oxford University Press, New York, 1993). [3] National Research Council (NRC), National Science Education Standards, National Committee for Science Education Standards and Assessment (The National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996). [4] National Research Council (NRC), Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning (The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2000). [5] National Research Council (NRC), Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering, (The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2011). [6] National Research Council (NRC), A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, (The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2012). [7] D. Llewellyn, Inquiry Within: Implementing Inquiry-based Science Standards (Corwin Press, Inc. Thousand Oaks, California, 2002). [8] C. Bolte, J. Holbrook, F. Rauch, Inquiry-based Science Education in Europe: Reflections from the PROFILES Project, in Book of invited presenters of the 1st International PROFILES Conference 24th– 26th September 2012, Berlin, Germany, 2012.

[9] National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council (NAE & NRC) Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospect, edited by L. Katehi, G. Pearson, and M. Feder, Board on Science Education, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2009). [10] J. J. Schwab, The teaching of science as inquiry, in The teaching of science, edited by J.J. Schwab & P.F. Brandwein (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1962), p. 3. [11] M. D. Herron, The nature of scientific enquiry, School Rev. 79, 171 (1971). Page | 303 [12] H. Banchi, and R. Bell, The Many Levels of Inquiry, Sci. Child., 46(2), 26 (2008). [13] R. W. Bybee, An instructional model for science education, in Developing Biological Literacy (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, Colorado Springs, CO 1993). [14] International Journal of Science Education – Special Issue on Teacher Development, 1994, Vol. 9, n. 5 [15] Mellado, V. (1998). The classroom practice of pre-service teachers and their conceptions of teaching and learning science. Science Education, 82, 197–214. [16] Zuckerman, J. T. (1999). Student science teachers constructing practical knowledge from in service science supervisors’ stories. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 10 (3), 235–245. [17] Tiberghien, A., Jossem, E. L. and J. Barrojas (Eds.) (1998). Connecting research in Physics education with teacher education. I.C.P.E. Book: International Commission on Physics Education. [18] R. Duit, H. Gropengießer, U. Kattmann, M. Komorek & I. Parchmann (2012) The Model of Educational Reconstruction – a Framework for Improving Teaching and Learning Science. In D. Jorde & J. Dillon (Eds), Science Education Research and Practice in Europe, V.5: Cultural Perspectives in Science Education, Sense Publishers, pp 13- 37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-900-8_2

Affiliation and address information Giuliana Croce, Onofrio Rosario Battaglia, Claudio Fazio Gruppo di Ricerca in Didattica e Storia della Fisica e della Chimica, Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Viale delle Scienze, edificio 18 Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italia) e-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected];

Teaching Biophysics at the Faculty of Rehabilitation, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw

Michał Wychowański1, Janusz Jaszczuk2, Barbara Łysoń3, Andrzej Wit1 1 Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Warsaw, Poland, Page | 304 2 Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Branch in Biała Podlaska, Biała Podlaska, Poland, 3 Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract The paper presents the program of activities in the lectures of biophysics at the Faculty of Rehabilitation at Józef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw. It is assumed that the main goal of teaching biophysics is to familiarize the students with the main methods of the natural sciences as well as mathematical modelling. We proposed the biophysics teaching program strictly connected with the clinical biomechanics and the scientific research methodology. Very poor maths knowledge among the physiotherapy students is the most relevant obstacle in teaching them biophysics. Therefore, the physiotherapy and nursing students are taught the selected maths branches during the lectures of biophysics and biomechanics as well as scientific research methodology for 5 years of their studies including 3 years of undergraduate and 2 years of master courses. We teach the introduction to differential and integral calculus in the master course which is essential to understand the technologically advanced methods used to analyse the human movements as well as to estimate measurement uncertainties. The examples of working with the tasks and the experiments of the paramount importance in the functional diagnostics of the human motion system are presented in the paper. A lot of attention is paid to promote physics and maths while teaching to encourage the students to study the literature on natural sciences.

Keywords Biophysics, didactics, measurement uncertainties, experiment, mathematical modelling, strength of material.

Introduction

Physiotherapy (physical therapy) is closely related to the medical rehabilitation. Medical rehabilitation – is a comprehensive and collaborative action for the disabled physically or mentally. Medical rehabilitation aims to completely (or close to) restore the patients in order to achieve physical or mental condition, as well as the patient’s ability to work and to take the active patient’s participation in society. Rehabilitation is an integral part of the therapeutic process, along with other treatments. Physiotherapy is a set of therapeutic methods using the phenomenon of the body's responsiveness to stimuli. Specialists from the application of physiotherapy are physiotherapists. Physiotherapy can be divided into the following sections: balneotherapy, climatotherapy, hydrotherapy, kinesiotherapy, manual therapy, medical massage, occupational therapy, use of physical stimuli. Kinesiotherapy (gr. Kinesis – movement) means the treatment using the movement. It is the very important branch of physiotherapy. Movement exercises are the basis of this field of physiotherapy. The movement is a remedy affecting the whole body.

Figure 1. Measurements of muscle strength in the hip.

Modern physiotherapy is based on medical imaging and the functional diagnostics. The example of technologically advanced devices to be used in the functional diagnostics of the human motor system are shown in Figure 1. The device allows the hip muscle strength measurements during flexion, extension, abduction as well as internal and external rotations in the static conditions. A physical therapists effective preparation in the field of physics is prerequisite for the correct diagnosis which allows to adopt an appropriate therapeutic strategy, training loads and to track the progress of improvement. A physiotherapist good preparation for professional work depends on his or her skills to be able to understand the complex phenomena which occur in Page | 305 the human movement system. The example of mathematical modelling to be used in order to improve movement techniques in the sport is shown in Figure 2. The mathematical model have been constructed using the method of Boltzmann-Hamel and describes the technique of paddling in a kayak. A material kayaker’s model was used to measure the aerodynamic characteristics of the athlete-kayak-paddle system in an aerodynamic tube. The knowledge on mathematical modelling methodology is very useful for analysing the human movement. According to Albert Einstein (1879-1955): ”What we call physics comprises that group of natural sciences which base their concepts on measurements; and whose concepts and propositions lend themselves to mathematical formulation”. Albert Einstein defined, in this way, the most important methods of the natural sciences: measurement and mathematical modelling. Metrology is the science of measurement (Einstein, 1940). Uncertainty is a property of a measurement result that defines the range of probable measurand values. The total uncertainty may consist of the components that are evaluated by the statistical probability of experimental data distribution. It is obvious that each measurement is subject to an error. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to present measurement results given as to their accuracy in the form of the maximum relative uncertainty, see for example Fig. 3. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) formulated the main idea of metrology: ”Count what is countable, measure what is measurable, and what is not measurable, make measurable”. The importance of mathematical modelling in science was expressed by the eminent physicist Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) who stated that, ”I can never satisfy myself until I can make a mechanical model of a thing. If I can make a mechanical model, I can understand it”. Another eminent physicist, John von Neumann (1903-1957), defined the goal of the science, ”The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models”.

Figure 2. Material and mathematical model of the kayak.

The statements of these eminent physicists, the growing importance of the wide rehabilitation in the treatment and health-related activities in modern societies as well as the tremendous technological advances in the measuring devices to be used to functional diagnostics have affected the main objectives of teaching the biophysics on our faculty of rehabilitation. A very important event for all the Polish physiotherapists was the signing by the Polish President Andrzej Duda, on 26th of October 2015, of “The Act on a Physiotherapist Profession”. The Act obviously increases the competence of physiotherapists in the field of functional diagnostics. There have been the following goals in the field of teaching biophysics to have been delineated, after a lot of years of experience coming from teaching biophysics, biomechanics, information technology, scientific research methodology and statistics in the field of physiotherapy in the academies of physical education. There was also the discussion from 1999 through 2011 under the direction of the Polish Society of Biomechanics being a part of think tank composed of the educators from all Polish academies of physical education. In Poland, the methods of functional diagnostics of the human motor system is derived from the biomechanics of sport. The main assumptions of the assessment of the athlete's movement were suggested by Fidelus (1970) defining the main factors affecting the outcome of sports competitions: technique of movement, physical fitness and tactics. This assumption led to the adoption of methodology relying on separate assessment of physical fitness by measuring as well as evaluating and optimizing movement techniques using mathematical modelling.

Considering the above facts, we formulated the main objectives of teaching biophysics physiotherapy students: i) Defining and presenting the main methods to be used in the natural sciences: measuring and mathematical modelling. ii) Making the students aware of the various physical factors which influence on a human body. iii) Describing and interpretation of the physical basics concerning the human body functioning. iv) Making the students familiar with the measurement means to be used in the medical diagnostics. v) Preparing the students to run the human motion system functional diagnostics according to the rules of Page | 306 metrology. In particular, attention has been paid to familiarize students with the main methods of the natural sciences which are measurements and mathematical modelling.

The curriculum

Keeping accepted teaching goals and the facts in mind, such as: i) Very poor students' knowledge on physics and mathematics. ii) Around 80% of the therapeutic methods to be acquired by students is kinesiotherapy. iii) The students report in the questionnaires that biophysics finds poor application in their professional activity. The biophysics teaching program covers 30 hours for lectures, 15 hours for exercises and 28 hours for their own students' work: In the first semester of physiotherapy the following topics of lectures are presented: 1. Biophysics - the subject, range, history, metrology, mathematical modelling, safety principles in a laboratory. 2. Introduction to derivation and integration of motion equations. 3. Balance the human muscle-skeletal system force in static conditions. 4. Stress, elongation, extension, compression of the tissues, the Hook's law. 5. Types of fractures depending on the load, adaptation the passive movement system to handling mechanical loads. 6. Fluid mechanics - blood circulation. 7. The influence of mechanical factors on a human body: ultrasounds, acceleration, pressure, vibration. 8. The influence of electrical current and magnetic fields on a human body. 9. Electromagnetic waves. The laser principle and the laser radiation characteristics. Ionizing radiation. 10. The elements of information and control theory. 11. The basis of cybernetics - physiological processes control. 12. Biophysics of the seeing and hearing processes. 13. Methods of imagining diagnostics. 14. The basis of biothermodynamics. 15. The basis of bioenergetics and thermokinetics. During 15 hours of practical classes, students participate in experiments measuring and solve computational tasks. Topics of practical exercises are as follows: i) Errors analysis, approximate calculus. ii) The human muscle-skeletal flat system force balance in static conditions. iii) Calculating the tensions in the bones to be stretched, contracted, bent, skewed. iv) The destructive stress measurement in a bone when bending in a tensile testing machine. v) Calculating aero- and hydrodynamic resistance as well as calculating the flow parameters. vi) Matter states changes, gas transformation, thermoregulation in a human body. vii) Calculating the electrostatic field intensity and potential. A human body resistance measurement and predicting effects of the current flow. viii) Calculating the direct current circuits. ix) Calculating the laser radiation doses. Audiometry. x) Athlete energetics, efficiency, power measurements using a bicycle ergometer. xi) Presenting the conditions of geometric optics. Presenting the whole body vibration.

Teaching methods

In the framework of self-education students shall review literature, research reports, as well as solve the problems posed. Our actions are focused on making the students familiar with the mathematical modelling principles, training them to perform measurements and to make calculations of the measurement uncertainty according to the metrology requirements. The curriculum of physiotherapy students does not provide the hours of mathematics. According to this, we make the students in the classes of biophysics, biomechanics and science methodology familiar with integrals and differentials,. While studying in the first year of second-cycle students attend 15 hours of classes in mathematics. In these classes students become familiar with methods of solving

algebraic equations, differential and integral calculus. They also learn the issues related to optimization. A very important goal of teaching mathematics is to familiarize future physiotherapists with the methods to present the results. The use of differential calculus method to estimate the total measurement uncertainty, in particular. The knowledge of differential and integral calculus is necessary to understand the methods of analysis of human movement using the accelerometers, platforms, torque and motion capture technology in the diagnostic laboratory. In the laboratory of functional diagnostics students learn the methods of measuring the human physical characteristics and verify their metrological knowledge calculating the measurement uncertainty. Figure Page | 307 3 shows an example of calculating a relative maximal measurement uncertainty of the maximal muscle extension torque measurement at the knee joint in static conditions, using the method of the total differential.

Figure 3. Calculating the muscle torque measurement uncertainty while extension in the knee.

This method of muscle strength measuring is known in the literature as maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) method (Kroemer & Marras, 1980). MVC method has been routinely used to assess the strength of human muscles since the 80s in the twentieth century and has a very small measurement uncertainty comparing to other methods to be used in functional diagnostics of human motor system. In the clinical practice and the medical research measurement the ucertainties are often not estimated at all.

Figure 4. Measurement of bone tissue strength with tension tensile machine.

Our own methods to determine the bone tissue strength during bone flection on the tensile testing device was developed specifically for didactics needs. We use testing machine FM-500 produced in 1964 in Rauenstein in the German Democratic Republic (Figure 4) to measure of bone tissue strength of small animals. The machine was saved from scraping and it is very good for teaching purposes. Students measure several times, using calipers, the external diameter of the bone before its fracture, and internal diameter after the break. As a result of these measurements, the students take an average value. Then, the students calculate the factor of flexural strength to determine the maximum tensions during a destruction trial. The own method of calculating the strength of bone tissue is shown in Figure 5. The students, during the practical exercises of biomechanics, determine the center of the human body mass in the photo using a 14-element-human-body-model (Hanavan, 1964) shown in Figure 6.

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Figure 5. The method of calculating ultimate strength Rm [Pa].

Figure 6. Analytical and drawing method to determine the center of mass of the man in the photo.

Very much attention is paid to familiarize students with the basics of differential and integral calculus which is necessary to understand the concept of measurement uncertainties in functional diagnostics of human motor system.

General remarks

i) The exercise of strength measurement has a high cognitive value and is a solid example of a measurement activity. ii) Determining a center of human mass using both methods analytical and draft is a solid training making the students' knowledge broader and improving their skills in the field of metrology and mathematical modelling. iii) Due to the very low level of mathematical knowledge of students it seems to be useful to introduce mathematics at the university study of physiotherapy. iv) About 40% of the second degree students participate in classes on physics and mathematics with full commitment, which allows us to achieve relatively difficult didactic purposes. v) About 60% of students are not particularly interested in natural sciences and do not achieve the objectives set by us. They must reach the level of knowledge taught in high school. vi) The proposal for all students, within the framework of self-study, are the tasks relating to the history of science and the biography of eminent scientists. An example of such a task is shown in Figure 7. vii) We are trying to change the opinion of the students about the uselessness of mathematics and physics in a professional activity of the physiotherapist.

What is this device? What and how it is measured? What is the history of this measurements?

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Figure 7. Self-education task for the students.

References Einstein A. (1940) http://photontheory.com/Einstein/Einstein01.html. Accessed November 14, 2015. Fidelus, K. (1970) The place and the importance of movement techniques in the theory of sports in polish, "Symposium on the theory and techniques of sport". Sport and Tourism, Warsaw, 16-22. Galilei G. (1564-1642) http://paperity.org/p/36643725/seeking-improved-global-child-health-progress-toward-millennium- development-goal-4. Accessed November 14, 2015. Hanavan, Jr, Ernest P. (1964) A mathematical model of the human body, Air Force Aerospace Medical Research Lab Kelvin W. (1824-1907) http://todayinsci.com/K/Kelvin_Lord/KelvinLord-Quotations.htm. Accessed November 14, 2015. Kroemer K. H. E., Marras William S. (1980) Towards an objective assessment of the "Maximal Voluntary Contraction" Component in routine muscle strength measurements. Eur J Appl Physiol 45, 1-9. Von Neumann J. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann. Accessed November 14, 2015. Wright-Patterson Afb Oh, PDF Url: AD0608463 pp. 7-30.

Affiliation and address information Michał Wychowański Laboratory of Biomechanics Faculty of Rehabilitation Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw ul. Marymoncka 34 00-968 Warszawa Poland e-mail: [email protected]

Authors index

Adorno, 256 Koupilová, 288 Bächtold, 181 Kranjc, 202 Baluković, 218 Kříček, 109 Page | 310 Barbieri, 52, 102, 188 Lerouge, 181 Battaglia, 298 Łysoń, 304 Capone, 25 Mandíková, 288 Carpineti, 52, 102 McLoughlin, 195 Castells, 163 Métioui, 117, 150 Croce, 298 Michelini, 142 Cruz, 225 Mirzoyan, 79 D’Acunto, 25 Moynihan, 195 De Cock, 45 Munier, 181 De Luca, 25 Mykytenko, 90 Dehaene, 45 Nagy, 262 Demkanin, 242 Nordmeier, 156 Dvořák, 292 Ohno, 64 Ellermeijer, 30 Pastrana-Sánchez, 225 Estrada, 225 Pizzolato, 256 Faletič, 234 Pospiech, 38 Fazio, 298 Radovanović, 250 Feldman, 71 Ranquet, 181 Finlayson, 195 Razpet, 202 Finta, 270 Rehfeldt, 156 Fried, 58, 123 Rochowicz, 288 Geyer, 38 Ryston, 212 Giliberti, 52, 188 Salnyk, 90 Goovaerts, 45 Shimojo, 64 Guedj, 181 Sliško, 218, 225, 250, 275 Haagen-Schützenhöfer, 173 Snětinová, 288 Hernández, 275 Stefanel, 142 Hopf, 283 Svobodová, 17 Ilić, 250 Tasnádi, 262 Iwata, 64 Teodorescu, 71 Jaszczuk, 304 Tran, 30 Ješková, 30, 130 Traun, 173 Kácovský, 138 Trefzger, 123 Karwasz, 288 Trefzger, 58 Kazachkova, 90 Treisch, 123 Kéhar, 98 Trenčan, 242 Kelo, 10 Trudel, 117, 150 Kireš, 30, 130 van Kampen, 195 Komáromi, 207 Vícha, 17 Korner, 283 Wit, 304 Koudelkova, 86 Wychowański, 304 Koupil, 17